Dragonology 101
by juniperwindsong
Summary: If Felix Rosier, age sixteen, strict Slytherin prefect and manically dedicated 6th year student, had been told that one year in the future he would be spending nearly a third of each week sneaking out of the school to visit a dragon in the Forbidden Forest, he would have docked points from whatever student was making up such a slanderous lie.
1. Chapter 1

_Summary:  
"So what exactly is your plan with this dragon?"  
"My plan, such as it is, is to find out what's wrong with its wing and fix it. Or find someone who can fix it."  
"That's going to be more difficult than you think."  
"Well I didn't think it would be easy."_

* * *

It's a little past midnight, the fire has almost completely died, and Felix Rosier sits rigidly on the leather sofa in the Slytherin common room. His transfiguration notes are open on his lap but his gaze is fixed on the stone wall opposite, eyes peeled for any small movement as he contemplates potential ways the notorious Slytherin curse-breaker might be planning to escape.

The Shrinking Charm? She did that once her first year, he's heard rumors. Or the Disillusionment Charm? It's far too advanced for her level, she's only a third year, but she could beat him in a duel at age twelve so he knows not to underestimate her. Or perhaps she has an invisibility cloak? Felix wouldn't put it past her. But unless she's found a secret entrance out of the dungeon (and he considers this a legitimate possibility) there is no way she'll be able to leave without him at least seeing the bricks of the wall part to let her pass.

Felix exhales loudly through his nose. The term has barely started and she's already back at her same bad habits, but this time, he's determined to put a stop to it. No more sneaking out, no more cursed vaults. Not this year. Felix steels himself for the impending confrontation, allowing his pent up anger and frustration to rise to the surface. And Merlin knows, he has enough of those emotions to spare at the moment.

Felix's seventh year at Hogwarts did not begin like the other six. That breathtaking mix of freedom and homecoming he usually feels at the start of each new school year has been poisoned by the knowledge that this one will be his last.

His summer was spent enduring lecture after lecture from his parents on his upcoming Family Responsibilities: a respectable career in a prestigious department of the Ministry of Magic ("Magical Law Enforcement would be best. Aurors are good people to have power and influence over, and it's a straight shot to minister," declares his father) and a suitable marriage to a pure-blood girl ("Don't you have any classes with the Nott's daughter? She should be in your year and she's ever so lovely," croons his mother). He's seventeen now, they say, a legal adult, and he really can't keep acting like a child anymore.

As always, Felix shields himself behind his schoolwork; his upcoming NEWTS have all his focus at the moment he tells them, and it's not untrue. Felix is determined to stay at the top of his class. The best at everything. All the more important since, in spite of his hours of studying, his perfect O.W.L scores, and his vigilance in keeping Slytherin in line to win the house cup for the last two years, he has somehow failed to make Head Boy.

His family on one side, his schoolwork on the other, Felix feels as though he's being slowly crushed between the two. And he has one year left to come to terms with the fact that there is no escape.

It's time for Juniper Windsong to come to terms with that, as well.

There's a noise from behind him; a shadow creeps around the couch. The dim light and her effort to keep her steps silent prevent her from noticing the back of Felix's head as Juniper makes her way toward the entrance wall. He clears his throat loudly, and she turns with a jump that would have made him laugh if he were in a lighter state of mind.

"Merlin's beard, you scared me!" she says in a strangled whisper. "What are you –"

"No."

"What?"

"Whatever you're doing, the answer is no."

Juniper lifts her hands in a placating gesture. "Look, it's not what you –"

"No!" Felix interrupts, his voice as loud as he can make it without shouting.

"Rosier!" storms Juniper, not bothering to keep her voice low. Her outstretched hands clench into frustrated fists, nails digging in to her palms.

"Windsong!" Felix practically shoves his notes from his lap and walks around the couch toward her, drawing in a breath to begin the speech he's been rehearsing for the last hour.

"This," he gestures with a hand to the entrance wall to indicate her attempted escape, " -is not happening this year. How you've managed to stay in school and learn anything the last two years is beyond me, when you're constantly sneaking about looking for trouble-"

"Looking for my brother!" Juniper interjects. Felix ignores her.

"-putting yourself and others in danger-"

"Oh for goodness sake, everyone was fine!"

He raises his voice over her protestations, " -and jeopardizing Slytherin's reputation _and_ points!"

"I earned more points than anyone last year!"

Technically true, but Felix acts as though he has not heard her. "But this year is going to be different. You're going to stay put." He enunciates each word. "You are going to focus on your school work. You are not going looking for any more vaults- "

"This isn't about the vaults! I swear! " interrupts Juniper again, a hint of desperation in her tone.

Felix stares at her from the higher vantage point of their height disparity. He's not particularly tall but she's small for her age. Juniper stares right back, face set in that look of grim determination he's grown familiar with. Blue eyes meet brown without blinking or retreating. It never ceases to unnerve him.

It used to make Felix furious. He assumed it meant she didn't respect him. He had never in his life stared down an authority figure that way; he couldn't even imagine doing so. It was only after he'd known her for some time, watched her turn that face on other students, professors (Merlin's beard, even Snape!), that he realized it wasn't an insult or a sign of disrespect. It was just who she was: quietly determined not to be cowed when she believed she was in the right.

Felix's resolve gives one millimetre. "What is it then? Where are you going?"

Juniper considers. "If I tell you will you let me go?"

"No," he scoffs, "but I'll hear you out as long as it's not a lie."

Juniper shifts her weight a little, scrutinizing her prefect. "If I tell you, you have to _promise_ not to tell a professor. Or anyone."

Felix raises an eyebrow. "You're not in a position to make deals."

"Then I can't tell you," she fires.

"Then I can't let you go," he rebuts.

Juniper worries her lip with her teeth. Her eyes are full of secret emotions Felix can't identify, but he can see an internal war is being waged.

"Look, I found a dr– creature in the forest." Felix does not miss her stumble. "It's hurt and I'm caring for it. It can't get food on its own. I have to –"

"What kind of creature?" he interrupts.

Juniper winces. "It's...a... dragon." She pushes the words out of her mouth one at a time as though they're reluctant to leave, but once the initial admission is free the rest follows swiftly.

"But it's not dangerous! I mean, it is dangerous, of course, but it's hurt! It can't fly, something happened to its wing. And it's small! It's just a baby, really, and it can't hunt for itself so I have to bring it food or it'll starve! And it's in the forest. I've never brought it into the castle and I'm not keeping it as a pet or anything. I'm just trying to help it so it can fly away, I promise!"

Juniper won't look at him as she rushes to get her arguments and assurances out all at once, so she doesn't see the subtle changes working through Felix's eyes and mouth as she speaks. His rational mind goes blank, as a part of himself long asleep stirs at the word "dragon". And when he opens his mouth next it's no longer Felix the Prefect who speaks, but Felix the little boy who spent hours of his childhood flipping through books on dragons under a table in his family's library.

"What kind of dragon?"

It's Juniper's turn to go blank. This is clearly not the response she was expecting.

"A Common Welsh Green. I'm pretty sure."

Silence. Juniper holds her breath. After what seems like full minutes, Felix speaks.

"Fine. You can go."

She breathes again."Rosier, than-"

"But I'm coming with you."

"-k you so- Wait, what?"

* * *

Three year old Felix Rosier had a picture book of dragons, a birthday gift from some relative or other, and the entirety of his unstructured free play time (which was very little) was devoted to gazing at the majestic creatures that flew across the pages. Eight year old Felix Rosier had secreted away what books he could find on dragons in his family's austere library and hidden them under his bed where he poured over them in the late hours of the night or early in the morning. And thirteen year old Felix Rosier had been unable to suppress his excitement for his first Care of Magical Creatures class, a class he continued to take even after his fifth year ("A well rounded education can only enhance a ministry career," he assured his parents).

He knew, had always known, had never needed to be told, that working with magical beasts was not an acceptable career choice for a wizard of his family lineage. A respectable, powerful, high-profile ministry career was his destiny; even the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures would be considered a major discredit to his family name. And so he had locked dragons away in that part of his mind where he kept everything about himself that was not Suitable. That was not becoming of the male heir to a sacred family.

Now, seventeen year old Felix finds himself sneaking through the dungeons, up to the entrance hall, out the front door, and into the castle grounds, a thing he has never done before, breaking more school rules than he wants to count, all for the chance of seeing a real, live dragon. A part of him, the part that speaks in his father's voice, demands he come to his senses, grab the silly thirteen year old by her oversized jumper, and drag her back to the common room before they're discovered. But another part of him is in control now. The part that knows this is his last year of freedom, his last chance to be himself, to make his own decisions. And so he continues to follow the soft, careful footsteps of the girl ahead of him, and his mental protestations grow quieter with every step.

They don't speak until they near the Dark Forest, passing Hagrid's cabin on the right, the sight of which sparks a question.

"Why haven't you told Professor Kettleburn about this?" asks Felix. "Or Hagrid? He loves dragons."

Juniper snorts with quiet laughter and rolls her eyes. "That's exactly why I didn't tell Hagrid. He loves dragons and he can't keep a secret. If I showed it to him, he'd try to adopt it. Keep it as a pet in his house or something. Or he'd accidentally mention it to someone and we'd both be in trouble. And Professor Kettleburn...well I don't really know him that well. I didn't know him at all this summer and that's when I found it and I've already built a sort of trust with it so it's not really that dangerous to me. Or I mean, it's not actively attacking me when I show up. And I was afraid if I gave it to Professor Kettleburn to take care of it might attack him and then the ministry would have to get involved because it's technically harmed a human and it's on school grounds and I don't know what they would do to it. I don't want it to be killed."

Felix follows the winding trail of this argument in his head and decides it sounds exactly like something a thirteen year old who has taken it upon herself to open a cursed vault would come up with, but he lets it go for the moment. He can always go to Kettleburn later,_ after_ he's seen a dragon.

"So, what exactly is your plan with this dragon?" Felix asks, a little breathless. Juniper's pace has quickened as they approach the forest.

Another snort. "My plan, such as it is, is to figure out what's wrong with it's wing and fix it if I can. Or find someone who can fix it."

He quirks an eyebrow more on instinct than for any effect, as it's dark and she's a pace and a half ahead of him.

"That's going to be more difficult than you think."

"Well, I didn't think it would be easy."

They round a corner into the forest and Juniper's pace slows a little as she lights her wand and picks a way through the brambles off the relative safety of the main path. Felix looks around at the dark trees, swaying ominously in the cool night wind and feels fear for the first time since this little adventure began. He's only ever been to the forest for classes, and never off the path. Certainly never at night, with only a third-year for any sort of protection.

Felix glances at Juniper. She's a few steps ahead, but has stopped moving and turned to face him. She jerks her head around to indicate the forest behind her.

"It's this way."

Fear requires Felix's brain to conjure up every terrible possibility and worst-case scenario. He narrows his eyes at the troublesome curse-breaker.

"This isn't some trick, is it? To try and get me lost or killed in the forest so you can carry on searching for the vaults?"

Juniper's wand tip illuminates her face so Felix can see several expressions cross it. He has the impression that she's resisting the urge to make a joke or a sarcastic comment.

Finally, she says simply, "I wouldn't do that to anyone. Not even Merula."

Juniper meets Felix's eyes, steadily, with an openness that makes him uncomfortable. He looks away, lighting his own wand and taking a step forward.

"You better not be."

* * *

They pick their way through the tangled grass and fallen branches that carpet the forest floor. Juniper walks steadily, wand tip held aloft, occasionally turning a little to one side, presumably searching for landmarks to help her find her way. Felix, on the other hand, is jumpy and cannot help jerking his wand around at every little sound or shadow, creating an arc of light that swings sporadically across the the dark foliage.

After a few minutes of this, Juniper turns on him, "Can you keep your wand down, please? Everything looks unfamiliar with that light dancing across it." Her tone is irritated but as she catches sight of his face, her expression softens and she cocks her head to the side. "Are you alright?"

Felix bristles, defensive from embarrassment and nerves. "Of course, _Windsong_. Just making sure one of us is alert. This forest is forbidden for a reason."

Juniper regards him steadily a moment longer, then continues forging a path. After a minute, she asks, "Do you know much about dragons?"

Felix's chin lifts just a few degrees. "Yes, as a matter of fact."

"What makes dragons so difficult to heal, then?"

Felix adopts that self-assured tone he uses when tutoring younger students. "Well, dragon hide is almost impervious to magic. Depending on the size and age and species, it can take up to a dozen strong, trained wizards casting the same spell for it to have any effect on a dragon. And that includes healing spells as well, so you can't simply cast episkey on one and expect its wound to heal. It's one of the reasons they're so endangered. They're very difficult to damage, but when they are wounded it's equally difficult for anyone to help them."

"Well, the book I read said younger dragons are more susceptible to magic as their hides aren't fully developed. And this dragon is definitely juvenile."

"How can you tell?" asks Felix, genuine curiousity replacing his usual tone of affected disdain.

"Well, it says Welsh Greens are usually around 18 feet when full grown which they reach at about 2 years. This one isn't even 9 feet yet so it can't be more than a year old. Maybe less. It didn't say at what rate they grow."

Felix is impressed. She's done her research. Of all the maddening things about Juniper Windsong, she did take time to prepare before throwing herself into impossible situations.

"What have you been reading?" Felix asks, "About dragon care I mean?"

"Just what's in the library. You know, _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland_ and _A Dragons Keeper's Guide_?"

Felix nods, not that she can see. He knows them well.

"But," continues Juniper, "the books on species don't go into specifics about caring for dragons, just their histories. And the guides that do talk about caring for dragons focus on things like talon clippings and scale rot. It's been a little helpful - helped me figure out what to feed it anyway - but they don't address more serious injuries. Not specialised enough I guess."

"I don't know that there are many books that detail how to heal a wound so grievous that the dragon can't fly," Felix posits sagely. "Although, in _Men Who Love Dragons Too Much_, the author debates whether..."

Felix is ten minutes into a lecture on dragon physiology when he catches sight of Juniper's face in the soft wand light as she turns to push aside a low branch. She's grinning widely, that ridiculous smile she has that pulls the left side of her face up and crinkles her eyes so they're almost closed, and only then does he realize how long he's been talking.

_Chattering like an idiot,_ _more like_! Felix berates himself. He snaps his mouth shut immediately, lowering his wand to shine on the forest floor so the burning in his face won't be illuminated. But he notices his nerves have settled as the thought of dragons is once again at the forefront of his mind. He has a split second to wonder if that had been Juniper's intention in asking him about dragons in the first place when she throws out an arm to halt his movement.

"Okay," she says quietly. "We're almost there, but I've got to grab the food first. Wait here".

Juniper takes a few steps forward, ducking behind a tree trunk nearly as wide across as one of the Quidditch stands. Felix hears a scraping like stone moving over wood and slow grunts of exertion, then nothing. A minute passes, and he glances around nervously, then there's noise and movement again and Juniper is back, hefting a rather bulky sack over her shoulder. He gets a whiff of animal stench as she steps heavily over to him, bent a bit under the weight of the bag.

"Okay!" she says again, panting slightly. "Ready?"

Wordlessly, Felix reaches around her and tugs the sack off her shoulder and out of her hands.

"Oi!" Juniper makes a grab for it, but Felix has already swung it over his own shoulder, trying to make it look effortless although in truth it's even heavier than it looked. He's surprised someone her size managed to lug it the short distance she did.

"What's in here?" Felix inquires.

"Food," Juniper huffs, put out. "Dead rabbits and ferrets mostly. A few birds, but it doesn't like those as much. You don't have to do that you know, I can carry it just fine".

"Where on earth did you get a half tonne of dead animals?" he asks, ignoring her.

"Care of Magical Creatures."

"You stole these from Kettleburn?"

"I prefer re-appropriated. It's technically going to the care of a magical creature. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Felix starts to mentally calculate the number of rules he's broken this evening and feels nauseous. "Well? Lead on, then."

With a last disgruntled look at the bag he's now hefting, Juniper turns and picks a way carefully between two enormous trees twined so closely together they're almost indistinguishable from each other.

Felix follows, slowly, his movements exaggerated as he tries to keep the bag from catching on the branches. He's so focused on this task the sudden humming that sounds just ahead startles him badly. He whips his head around at the noise and catches the side of his face on a branch. He lets out a light curse, and reaches for the injury, feeling wet blood. Juniper hasn't noticed, she's too far ahead, and_ humming_. The tune is vaguely familiar and far too loud, echoing eerily in the forest stillness.

_She really is mad_, Felix marvels, and opens his mouth to order her to keep her voice down. But the admonishment dies on his lips when he hears another sound: deep, clear, and melodious, almost like the ringing of a heavy bell, but with the tremulous undulation that only a throat can produce. A powerful, fiery throat.

* * *

It must be the roar of a Welsh Green dragon, provides the part of Felix's brain that can still think, it's always described as musical in books. But now he hears it, he realizes that description is only technically accurate, in the same way that describing the Eiffel Tower as "tall" or the Dark Lord as "not very nice" is technically accurate.

Felix trips over his own feet pushing through the branches to get to the source of the song. He tears through the trees and emerges onto slightly tamer knotgrass, now entirely unaware of the weight of the bag bouncing on his back or the blood trickling down the side of his face, and stops beside Juniper at the lip of what appears to be a small ditch. She's still humming her familiar song, and smiling. Her voice is rather good, high-pitched and sweet, but next to the dragon's song it sounds like so much noise.

The dragon roars again, and Felix can feel it reverberate inside his chest, the sensation somehow sending both heat and chills down his body as though he's swallowed frozen lava. Now that he's here, right here, right in front of it, he finds for some reason he's almost afraid to look directly at the thing he came all this way to see. It takes a ridiculous amount of effort to raise his eyes from the ground in front of his feet to the creature in the ditch. But once he manages it, Felix can't tear his eyes away.

The light from both their wands reflects large, reptilian eyes that fade from bright yellow to smoldering orange. Moonlight shines on a body of the most remarkable shades of green, causing it to sparkle as though it's made of emeralds instead of scales. Its mouth opens as it emits another low roar and he sees razor sharp teeth, pearly white and somehow too long for its mouth. Its roar may be song-like, but when it turns its eyes on Felix it's with a look of such ferocity his stomach turns over. It lowers its head between its front legs as if it's ready to spring and he's never felt more terrified. Or exhilarated.

Felix feels Juniper tugging at the bag on his shoulder and he relaxes his grip, his gaze never leaving the dragon. She fumbles about in the sack with one hand as best she can while still facing forward. Out of the corner of his eye, Felix sees her toss something down into the ditch.

And the dragon strikes. In the space of a heartbeat, its neck uncoils like a cobra and snatches the rabbit out of the air. It crunches twice before swallowing, then looks back up at the humans. The dragon's eyes are now on Juniper, regarding her warily but somehow with less ferocity than before. Felix wonders how its eyes can have so much expression, and how every book he's ever read has failed to mention this.

He's still staring slack jawed as Juniper tugs more carcasses from the bag he's let slide down his shoulder to the ground. The entirety of his attention being on the dragon, Felix doesn't notice the girl drop down into the ditch until the dragon lowers its gaze to where she's now stepping toward it slowly, a dead rabbit held out in front of her. The dragon emits another low, musical roar and now Felix is frozen for an entirely different reason.

"Hello, Sparky!" Juniper says in a low sing-song as she closes the distance between herself and the startlingly green beast.

It may be juvenile, Felix thinks, but it's still bloody enormous in comparison with her small size, and he hasn't the first idea what to do. He wants to yell: at Juniper to get back or at the dragon to distract it, he isn't sure. But it doesn't matter as his vocal chords have frozen along with the rest of his limbs.

Felix watches helplessly as the tiny thirteen year old stops just before easy striking distance and gently tosses the rabbit toward the dragon's mouth. Again, its neck elongates with supernatural speed, catching the rabbit a second after it's in the air. Juniper takes a few quick steps back while it savors this new treat, and the rapid action restores Felix's mobility.

He raises the wand that's been slack at his side, aims at the dragon's eyes, and calls down to her tightly, "Windsong, get back up here now."

Both the girl and the dragon whip their heads around at Felix, Juniper with a look of alarm and a frantic shushing gesture, and the dragon with a blood-curdling, discordant shriek like someone attempting to play every note on an oboe all at once. It crouches, head dropping between its forelegs, and leaps toward the lip of the ditch directly below where Felix is standing.

Pure human survival instinct causes Felix to jump backward, his brain screaming at him to run, but he trips over roots and falls to the ground. He can now see only the dragon's terrible, fiery eyes as it attempts to raise its head over the side of the ditch wall.

"Sparky!" Felix hears Juniper call to the dragon in that soothing, sing-song voice, and the eyes suddenly vanish. Felix can hear crunching, then Juniper's voice again, still in that same dulcet tone. "Rosier, please don't yell. Everything's alright, just stay up there and try not to distract it."

* * *

For a long time, exactly how long he doesn't know, Felix can only sit in the dirt and tangled grass, trying to catch his breath and waiting for his heart to stop pounding. His father's voice is triumphant in his head. _You shouldn't be here. You're not a foolhardy adventurer. You're a Rosier. The heir to a powerful house and a sacred name. You've disgraced yourself just by being part of this ridiculous scheme._

Felix feels like a fool. Which makes him angry. He stands, finally, with as much dignity as he can muster, brushing the dirt from his clothes and reaching up to slick back his hair. He turns toward the ditch, debating whether to pull Windsong out with a summoning charm or to simply leave her there and try to find the way back to the castle on his own.

But Felix's anger deflates as he takes in the spectacle below him: Juniper, arm outstretched toward the emerald dragon now crouching beside her, stroking the side of its neck, slowly and carefully. He thinks she might be speaking to it softly, but he's too far away to hear any words, just the dragon's answer, a contended rumbling hum, like sustained bass notes on a piano. It's eyes are open and still deadly, but somehow more relaxed, the yellow irises crackling softly like a warm house fire.

It's the most beautiful thing Felix has ever seen.

And for the first time in his life, Felix feels a desperate, burning desire to be someone else. To be that awkward little thirteen year old girl in the ditch below him. To be the person standing there, toe to toe with an actual dragon; communicating with it, communing with it. To be anyone else; because anyone else could choose a life spent chasing after these incredible, impossible creatures; patiently learning their secrets, understanding them better than anyone else, and appreciating them like no one else could.

Felix is hypnotized. He watches Juniper stroke the dragon's scales until it's stretched out on the ground in front of her, then watches her walk slowly around its side, talking softly all the while, to try to inspect its left wing. He watches her touch the wing gently and step back as the dragon growls its displeasure and re-positions itself. He watches her do this again and again for what could be minutes or hours. Felix watches her and envisions himself, and each successive fantasy of soothing and inspecting a dragon that permits his presence, that knows him and prefers him over anyone else, causes something in him to ache with a terrible longing. He's never been in love, never really _desired _anyone, but he thinks this must be what that feels like.

Lost in his thoughts, Felix doesn't notice Juniper climbing out the ditch until he hears his own name. He looks up from the dragon, now resting quietly in a patch of grass toward the back of what the velvety dark blue sky reveals to be a small valley or ravine, to find her staring down at him.

"Did you fall asleep?"

"No," says Felix simply, standing up and dazedly taking stock of his surroundings. The color of the sky means dawn is on the way; they must have been out here for hours. He realizes with a jolt that he has classes today.

"What time is it?" he demands.

"A little after four, I think. We need to head back if we want to be inside before Filch starts his morning rounds." Juniper picks up the sack lying next to him and starts off back the way they came, and after a last look at the dragon, Felix hurries after her.

They walk back in silence, Felix still trying to organize his thoughts. Juniper stops by the giant tree to store the bag of animal bodies and Felix realizes belatedly that he ought to have carried it back for her, like a gentleman. But his brain can't seem to keep up with the present; his mind is still back in the clearing with the dragon.

Thankfully, Juniper doesn't try to force conversation as they make their way out of the forest, across the grounds, and into the castle just as the sky begins to turn a steely grey. Felix barely registers the return journey and is a little surprised to find they've stopped before the secret entrance to their common room and are waiting for the bricks to part. As they step through, Felix makes an effort to clear his head. He knows there are things he should be saying and doing now, he just can't put his finger on what they are. So he stands, stupidly, surveying the common room without really seeing anything.

"You might want to clean yourself up before everyone's awake," says Juniper, and Felix realizes she's standing in front of him. "And maybe skip class this morning, get some sleep. You look a bit..." she looks him up and down, searching for a word, "rumpled." she finishes lamely.

If she says anything further, Felix doesn't register it. His next clear thought comes only when he's standing in front of the mirror in the boys washroom surveying his "rumpled" appearance. His school jumper is filthy and torn in several places, as are his trousers, the back of which he can feel are caked in a layer of dirt and dry leaves. His hair is disheveled, pieces sticking up every which way. Blood is smeared across the side of his face where he'd caught it on a branch and his hands are coated in grime. He's certain he has never looked this worse for wear.

_Well, that's adventure for you_, says the rational part of his brain, reasserting itself smugly, _messy, dirty, chaotic. A past time best left to Gryffindors_.

Felix pulls out his wand and casts episkey on the long, shallow cut on his cheek. It heals immediately, leaving it impossible to tell where it had been. Almost as though it never happened, he muses. And the feeling it stirs in him is unpleasant and unfamiliar. He isn't sure how he expected to feel. He hadn't planned that far ahead (most unlike him), being entirely fixated on seeing a dragon. Which he has done, and survived, and now... it's over.

_Not necessarily_, whispers another voice in his head, much less familiar. _There's no reason not to go back and see it again. It's doubtful Windsong will stop just because she's been caught_.

This mad thought shakes Felix from his stupor. He pulls himself together, glaring at his reflection. Absolutely not. He does not do ridiculous, reckless things that aren't even going to earn house points (except of course, for everything's he done this evening, the cheeky voice points out; he ignores it). He's going to pull Windsong aside the first chance he gets, insist that she stop this nonsense or he'll have no choice but to turn her in, and forget that the whole thing ever occurred.

Felix strips off his soiled clothing and pulls a nightshirt over his head as he makes this decision. He expects to feel relieved, as he generally does, at the formulation of a solid plan. Instead, he feels empty and somehow heartsick, as if he's lost something precious. Felix collapses into his bed, exhaustion welling up inside him, and the dragon's piercing eyes are the last things he sees before sleep claims him.


	2. Chapter 2

_Summary: His fears of the future are the tinder, the dragon is the spark. And together they ignite a flame inside Felix he forgot he had._

* * *

Felix has never missed a class in his life, and it would take a lot more than a night spent trekking to and from the Forbidden Forest to see a real live dragon for the very first time for him to start now. His eyes snap open and he bolts upright from his bed where he had lain only two hours before, and knows without consulting his watch that he's late. He throws on his spare robes, not having taken the time to mend his clothes from the night before, flattens his hair to his head hurriedly, and summons his bag and books by magic. He sprints down the stairs from his dormitory and across the Slytherin common room, earning disbelieving stares from the few people sitting in it.

Class has already been in session for fifteen minutes before Felix arrives. He's lucky it's Charms as Professor Flitwick is more actively sympathetic to the stress of the seventh years than certain other teachers, and only lightly chides Felix as he takes his seat. Several people across the aisle smirk at him, and a Gryffindor girl he knows by sight whispers behind her hand to her friend. Both girls snicker, and Felix feels his cheeks heat slightly. He makes a mental note to dock points from them both for something or other after class is over.

While not exactly refreshing, Felix's short rest has been enough to clear his head and restore his focus. He successfully keeps his mind on his studies throughout the day, discipline preventing his thoughts from accidentally wandering to his adventure of the previous night. It isn't until he sits down to dinner, his History of Magic textbook open in front of him as he eats, that the memory is forced upon him by the arrival of Juniper Windsong at the Slytherin table.

Felix recognises her distinct pealing laughter over the chatter of the students around him. He looks up from his book to see Juniper throw herself onto the bench a few seats down, chatting animatedly with her friends Rowan Khanna, Penny Haywood, and Ben Copper. Her night's escapades do not seem to have dulled her natural ebullience. Felix watches as she piles her plate with potatoes, bright eyes fixed on Haywood who relates some meaningless gossip, and he attempts to reconcile this version of Windsong, over-loud laughs and awkward energy, with the patient, focused girl of the night before.

Felix continues to steal glances toward the group of third years as they eat. Juniper is across the table from him, and there aren't so many people between them that she can't see him, but she hasn't looked his way. He toys with the idea of making up some excuse to pull her away from her friends (maybe sending them back to their own house tables) so he can talk to her, but he doesn't yet know what to say. There had been no resolution to their shared adventure last night, no discussion of how they would proceed the next day. And while Felix may have decided on a plan of action before he slept this morning, he has now begun to reconsider. If he turns her in, he'll implicate himself, having not only failed to stop her breaking half a dozen school rules but actually breaking them with her. Felix very much doubts the noble, blame-taking streak she had shown last year in that incident with Snape would stretch to leaving him out of the story if he gave her up*.

And if he tells a professor, a voice in Felix's head reminds him, he won't ever get to see the dragon again. Which he's definitely _not_ going to do anyway. Probably.

* * *

"Hey!"

Felix's internal dialogue is interrupted by the very source of his consternation. Juniper's friends have left the Great Hall, but she has hung back, trotting down the table to where he's sitting and taking the seat across from him.

Felix looks up from the same page of _A History of Magic_ that he's been staring at for the last ten minutes.

"Hey, yourself," He says with only a moderate amount of his usual affected disdain.

"So," begins Juniper slowly, not quite meeting his eye, "about last night..."

In the same instant that Felix considers this an unfortunate way to begin a conversation in the middle of a hall full of people, a fourth year Slytherin boy a few seats down chokes on his pumpkin juice and looks over at them with a knowing grin.

"Get out of it, Somerby, we're talking homework," Felix snaps at the boy. "Unless you want some mandatory extra transfiguration work."

That wipes the grin from the boy's face and he pushes himself up from the table muttering mutinously. Felix keeps his eyes on him until he's passed through the double doors and into the Entrance Hall beyond, then glances around to ensure there's no one else within easy eavesdropping distance.

"Do you always use the Great Hall to discuss your illicit activities?" he hisses.

Juniper shrugs unconcernedly. "It's the least suspicious place to be seen talking to people. And it's generally pretty loud, so it's hard to hear one private conversation."

Felix stares at her incredulously and lets out a short, mirthless laugh. "How have you not yet been expelled?"

Juniper ignores this entirely.

"Look, I just wanted to say thank you. For letting me go last night. I know you don't approve of that kind of rule-breaking and I put you in a difficult situation and I really," she pauses, searching for the right word, "appreciate your helping me out. I promise I'll hide it so much better from you in future," Juniper finishes with a grin.

Felix has no idea what to say. He has a decision to make and he's more unsure of himself now than he has been in long time.

_It's madness to even consider letting this continue,_ his father's voice berates him and he knows that's true. But there's another voice in his head now, that doesn't sound like anyone else. The secret self he keeps hidden, can't show anyone because it isn't _suitable_, is awake at last and isn't going anywhere without a fight.

_ This is your last year of freedom,_ it reminds him, _and you've never really appreciated it, not nearly enough_. And Felix knows that's true as well. He's been completely focused on achieving perfection the last seven years, as if somehow, that would turn him into a person who could endure the fate laid out before him. But it hasn't. He still isn't ready, still dreads the thought of the future to come.

_You'll never again have this chance._ And the image of the dragon's eyes boring into his and the sound of its song burn inside him. Maybe, if he has just one adventure...one mad, irrational, incredible adventure, the memory of that will be enough. His fears of the future are the tinder, the dragon is the spark. And together they ignite a flame inside Felix he forgot he had.

Felix makes up his mind and focuses on his surroundings once more. He hasn't been paying attention to the way his mental battle has played out on his face, but the girl across from him now looks pale and slightly sick.

"Please, tell me you didn't tell a teacher," Juniper whispers.

Felix resets his expression to his normal, imperious mask. "I haven't told anyone."

Juniper relaxes visibly.

"Yet."

Her eyes shoot back up to his in alarm.

Felix smirks. He has a strategy.

"Juniper," He begins in his best prefect voice, making sure to keep the volume low so they cannot be overhead, "what you're doing is extremely dangerous. Even for a grown, experienced wizard. A thousand times more so for a third year student who has never even seen a dragon before. You've managed to survive thus far on nerve and luck, but it only takes one time. If you slip up once and it decides you're a threat... or even if it doesn't and you just aren't fast enough to dodge its tail or its claws or its flame, there are a myriad ways for you to be killed or maimed. Your odds of never sustaining a serious injury are practically nothing, and you're out in the heart of the forest all alone. _When _something happens to you, as it's bound to, you'll have no way of getting help. And if you do somehow manage to get yourself rescued, you're still sure to be expelled. It's just too risky and I can't in good conscience let you keep going out there-

"I-" Juniper tries to interject.

"_-alone,_" Felix finishes over her.

Juniper stops speaking with her mouth still open. She snaps it shut and regards him shrewdly. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," Felix intones, his voice low again, "that I will keep your secret as long as you allow me to go with you."

Juniper's face screws up in incredulity. "What, like every time?"

Felix raises an eyebrow and inclines his head slightly.

Juniper lets out an unbecoming chuffing noise, leans her body back away from him, and folds her arms across her chest.

"No offense, Rosier, but you weren't exactly a huge help last night. You're the one who almost copped it, I was doing fine."

Felix's face reddens in embarrassment in spite of himself and Juniper almost trips over her own tongue in an effort to undo the effect her words have had.

"I mean it's understandable!" Juniper leans forward again. "It was your first time. And it is pretty overwhelming. I just mean...well...it doesn't know you and that makes it more aggressive and untrusting. Which actually makes things more dangerous for me so...I think it's really better if I-"

"So, it just took to you right from the off, did it?" Felix sneers. "You tamed it with your magic song and you've been best friends ever since?"

"No, not at all, it took time and-"

"Exactly," he interjects, forgetting to keep his voice down. "It took time, but you managed to build a rapport with it and now it trusts you, to a degree. There's no reason I can't do the same."

Juniper makes a strange face, possibly an attempt to raise an eyebrow? But all she accomplishes is to widen her eyes and crinkle her forehead into lines. "You have that kind of time? With prefect duties and NEWTS coming up?"

No, he absolutely does _not _have the time, Felix's rational self reminds him.

"I will make time," he says. "How often do you visit it?"

"A few nights a week." Juniper's tone suggests a challenge. "Apparently they don't have to eat every day, they have a-

"A slow digestive system," Felix finishes for her.

And in spite of the verbal duel they're currently engaged in, neither can keep from grinning at this. A genuine, good-natured smile is a little unfamiliar on Felix's face, but he enjoys the feeling.

"Right," Juniper concedes. "The thing is I don't really have a set schedule. It's just every two or three days whenever I can get away."

"Well, then make it nights when I don't have prefect duties and there shouldn't be a problem."

Juniper gazes at him for a moment, a soft expression he can't identify on her face.

"Felix," she says in a voice just above a whisper, and the way she says his name sends a pleasant shiver through him. Felix isn't used to hearing his given name intoned so kindly and carefully, without accusation or anger or disappointment. "Do you know how many school rules you'll be breaking by doing this? What's going to happen if you get caught? You work so hard and... I'd really hate to be the reason you're expelled."

Felix has been on the receiving end of her strange compassion before, and it's just as disarming now as it was then**. He tries to smile again, reassuringly, but he isn't sure something of his more customary smirk doesn't find its way onto his lips as well.

"Then don't get us caught." Felix quips, and succeeds in restoring Juniper's grin.

* * *

* A/N: For those who joined the game after Jam City made the horrible decision to remove many of the questlines from the first two years, this is in reference to a side quest in which Felix, Rowan, and MC jinx a Gryffindor student into the courtyard fountain. When later confronted by Snape, MC has the choice to blame Felix or take the blame herself. For the purposes of this story, MC chose to take the blame and save Felix from getting into trouble.

**A/N: This is in reference to yet another removed quest line where Felix teaches MC how to duel. Upon defeating him, MC has the choice to tell everyone in Slytherin or keep it a secret to save face for Felix. For the purposes of this story, MC chose to keep quiet about beating him (earning a very sweet screenshot of smiling Felix).


	3. Chapter 3

_Summary: "I have never seen you this happy." She says in wonder between peals of laughter. And he knows that in all his seventeen years, he has never been this happy._

* * *

The second time Felix Rosier sneaks from the castle to visit an illegal dragon in the Forbidden Forest, he's prepared. He's wearing the most casual clothes he owns (still never intended for hikes through wild and thorny undergrowth) and brings his dragon hide gloves. He's alight with excitement and determination as they trek back through the densely clumped trees to the dragon's valley, and the wealth of good feeling makes him garrulous.

"You keep referring to the dragon as 'it'. Do you not know if it's male or female?" Felix asks Juniper as they push through the trees.

He can't see her face but her voice reveals amusement as she answers, "I haven't been able to ascertain that yet, no."

"It shouldn't be that difficult," Felix argues, keeping pace with her this time and assisting her in pushing past thicker clumps of branches, "there are some rather obvious markers."

He can hear Juniper's wide smile in her words even if he can't see it, "I'm aware. But it's harder than you think to get a good view of that area."

Felix rolls his eyes and adopts his most grown-up tone. "There's more than just genitalia. Females are larger and more aggressive than males, usually."

"Yes," Juniper responds, "but as I don't know exactly how old this one is I can't really compare its size to other dragons its age. And this being my first dragon I also have no baseline from which to measure its relative aggression."

Felix smiles, something that's been happening to his face a lot the past few days and his cheekbones have started to feel sore. There's something about the way she uses technical vocabulary and precise wording when defending herself from perceived slights that he appreciates fondly. And he finds the combination of a favorite subject and friendly banter to be exceptionally pleasant. All in all, Felix is in the best mood he's been in since before the summer holidays.

* * *

When they reach the gargantuan tree where Juniper has hidden the bag of animal carcasses, she shows him the boulder she's pushed up against the hole in the trunk. Behind it is a narrow, dark passage leading to a small cave hidden underneath the tree roots.

"This looks like it used to be a Red Cap's cave." Felix tells her as he lowers himself in after her.

"I wondered if that's what it was. I've read about them but I've never seen one before." Juniper bends down to heft the sack over her shoulder. "I don't think it can still be using it though. I was worried at first that animals might smell the meat and try to get in but I've nev- come off it!" She breaks off as Felix wrests the bag from her grip. "You know, I carried it just fine for a month before you were ever here. And it was heavier."

"Not the point." Felix says brusquely, turning his back on her. He reaches his free hand up, and using the tree roots as leverage, pulls himself and the bag out of the cave.

"The point is," Juniper grumbles as she climbs out behind him, "that you don't think I'm capable enough to do anything by myself." She stands up and faces him, hands on hips, eyes flashing, face twisted in a grimace. She might have cut an intimidating figure if she'd been a bit taller, he thinks. "What do I have to do to prove to you I can do stuff on my own? Save the school from cursed ice? Tame a dragon? Beat you in a duel?"

The second isn't strictly accurate and the last is a bit below the belt. But she's obviously irked, which he rarely sees, so Felix ignores the bait and opts to soothe her bruised ego.

"You know I don't think that. You proven yourself to be exceptionally capable at everything, except perhaps making rational decisions." She makes a feral sort of sound and he hurries on. "The point," he explains patiently "is that a gentleman does not allow a lady to carry heavy baggage, whether it is full of shopping or animal corpses."

The face Juniper makes at him reveals both what she thinks about rules concerning gentleman and ladies, and that no matter how hard she may try she cannot physically raise her eyebrows. She turns and walks off muttering something under her breath of which only the phrase "toffee-nosed" is readily distinguishable. Felix follows, secretly appreciating the reduced weight of the bag from their previous excursion.

As he reaches the makeshift gateway created by the two enormous intertwined trees, Felix hears her start to hum that same song as the last time and his heart begins to pound. Any second now, he'll hear the dragon again...

* * *

It isn't until he's been sitting at the lip of the ledge for ten or so minutes, drinking in the sight of the dragon while Juniper tosses it rabbits, that Felix clears his head enough to ask, "Why do you sing to it? I've never read of music having any particular effect on dragons."

She's just below him, close enough that her voice carries in spite of the soft, gentle tone she uses around the dragon. "It's a trick I picked up when I trained a Thestral last year. Creatures that live in the forest are generally alarmed by the sound of something moving toward them. It's best if they know it's you before they hear your footsteps."

Felix looks away from the dragon for the first time to stare down at the top of her head. "You trained a Thestral?"

"Yeah. Hagrid needed one docile enough to take to the International Confederation of Wizards for a demonstration. He didn't have the time it takes to really socialize a wild Thestral so I helped out. It ended up going really well. I still visit him whenever I can. The Thestral, I mean"

Again, Felix finds himself more impressed with Juniper than he ever thought he could be of a thirteen year old. _If she would just dedicate her talent and energy to the things that really matter, like her studies_, he thinks_, she'd be a shoe-in for Head Girl one day_.

"So, you can see Thestrals?" he asks.

"Obviously. It's hard to train something you can't see."

"Who have you seen die?" It isn't until this question is out of his mouth and hanging in the air that he realizes how ridiculously personal and tactless it is. His cheeks flush brick red.

Before he can figure out how to undo his faux pas Juniper answers, "My mother". She offers no further elaboration, and he casts around for a way to sweep the subject behind them.

"You're sure I can't come down and help?" Felix asks, standing up, but as soon as he does the dragon's fierce eyes snap to him in suspicion. It growls that dangerous, warning song and bares it elongated teeth.

"I think Sparky's made himself clear. Or herself." Juniper responds, amusement coloring her sing-song lilt. "You need to give it time. It doesn't know you yet."

Which reminds him of another question.

* * *

"Why do you call it "Sparky"?" Felix asks, as they walk back a few hours later, pronouncing the moniker with distaste.

"It's a sort of joke." Juniper answers haltingly, whether from their brisk pace or embarrassment at her nickname for the dragon he isn't sure.

"I don't get it."

"Well," She says, picking through branches as quickly as she can (Felix is determined to be a step in front of her now that he knows the way a bit better), "Sparky is a sort of common name muggles give their dogs. In like books and films and things."

Felix stops, staring at her, his expressionless face just visible in the early light.

"And then, you know, spark? fire?...it's a dragon?"

He continues to stare. Juniper shrugs, not meeting his eyes.

"It's not funny when you have to explain it." she mutters, pushing past him.

Felix follows, less concerned now with his speed and more concerned with wondering whether it's all thirteen year old's whose brains work so strangely, or just her.

* * *

"Maybe it just likes girls better, like unicorns." Felix says in a huff as they make their way to the dragon's little valley for what will be his fifth visit. Felix prides himself on his patient, relentless approach to his studies, but he's becoming frustrated with the way the dragon continues to aggressively oppose his presence after nearly three weeks.

"I don't think so. None of the books mention anything like that." Juniper says consolingly as they enter the forest, the sky only just beginning to darken. Now that she no longer has to sneak out of the dormitory to avoid him, they're able to leave much earlier in the evening. When he doesn't have prefect duties and she doesn't have quidditch practice.

"Maybe no one's discovered that yet. There aren't a lot of female dragonologists, you know." Felix says, shooting an accusatory glance at her in the nearly faded light as if it's somehow her fault that the dragon hasn't taken to him. He wonders if she might not actually be the reason. Perhaps the dragon considers her its mother, or its mate, and is territorial over her.

"Why's that, do you think?" Juniper asks, trying to keep the conversation light as they move through the tightly clustered trees. Felix knows the path as well as she does by now and she lets him lead, although he's sure it's just an attempt to soothe his rumpled feathers.

"It takes a lot of physical strength working with dragons. Your spells have to be forceful not just accurate and often they don't work at all and you have to be able to physically subdue or escape one. Some dragonologists still swear by swords and spears as the best method for defending against dragons and almost don't bother using magic on them at all." Felix pushes expertly past the close tree branches, "Not to mention it's a rough sort of profession. Dragonologists are often out in the wilderness for long periods of time. Can't worry about things like their hair or their clothes."

Juniper laughs out loud at this, "Well, you _know_ how much I care about my hair and clothes." She has a point. While Felix makes sure to mend and clean his clothes after every excursion into the forest, he often finds Juniper the next day in the same clothes she was wearing the night before, complete with grass and blood stains. More than once he's mumbled a quiet charm to sew up rips on the back of her trousers or coat that she hasn't even noticed.

"But," she draws the word out slowly as they near their destination, "I had an idea about that, and all." Juniper doesn't explain until they're at the red cap's old tree when she suddenly grabs his arm to halt his movement. Felix turns to face her, startled, but she's focused on removing her green and silver Slytherin scarf and wrapping it around his own neck.

"What-" He begins.

"My scent." She explains before he can finish. "I'm thinking maybe if you smell more like me, it might trust you more."

Juniper mistakes his expression for skepticism at her idea, rather than the fact that Felix isn't sure he's ever had a girl's hands quite so close to his neck and face before and the sensation is surprisingly overwhelming. "It's just a theory. Can't hurt anything, can it?" She shrugs and moves off to the tree to retrieve the now dangerously light bag of animal carcasses.

Felix finds he's a little too shaky on his feet to follow.

* * *

Felix is waiting at the edge of the ridge separating him from the dragon, while Juniper strokes the side of its neck softly. It hasn't paid him any attention the whole time they've been here, even when he's standing up. Which is actually a marked improvement from its usual open hostility.

"What do you reckon?" Felix asks, a little embarrassed at soliciting her opinion. However, now that the time has come to attempt the next step, he finds he needs some reassurance.

"Maybe rub my scarf along your face and hands first? Make sure you smell like me." Juniper calls back up, her voice even and gentle.

Felix eyes the edges of the scarf warily as if they might spring to life and strangle him at any second. Carefully, he runs the end of the scarf along his face and hair. It smells lightly of lavender and something else he can't identify.

"Alright." he says, his voice coming out more tremulous than he would prefer.

"Come on down then." Juniper says, and he wonders if she's really as confident as she sounds.

Felix regards the dragon before him, stealing himself to take action. Why is it so hard to finally do the thing he's been dreaming of for weeks now? He stands frozen, wondering if he'll ever be able to make himself move or if he might just stand here for the next few hours, when Juniper's voice shakes him from his torpor.

"It's alright, Rosier. You can do it." It's an invitation and a challenge. Before he can overthink anymore, his legs are moving, stepping forward cautiously, trying and failing to find a footing in the wall surrounding the valley and skidding gracelessly down to the earth below. Felix gathers himself up quickly, eyes fixed on the dragon before him. It's turned its head toward him at the sounds of his fall. It bristles at the sight of him so close, but it hasn't moved to strike, hasn't changed its position. Juniper calls to it and throws another dead animal treat and it turns away.

Felix breathes out slowly, taking in the sight of the dragon, somehow completely new when viewed from this close proximity. He's now near enough to count the individual scales on its hide and see flecks of dirt and earth marring its gleaming curved talons.

He hears Juniper call to him, "You alright?" from a few steps away. Felix nods. Then, remembering her eyes are always on the dragon and it's unlikely she's seen his motion, says out-loud, "I'm fine." The dragon glances at him again, its glittering eyes a mere metre and a half away from his face, then turns back to Juniper, now stroking its neck.

"Better than fine." he breathes and his smile is so broad he feels his cheeks might burst.

* * *

"Come stand by me", Juniper instructs him. It's Felix's second night climbing down into the valley after her, again wearing her scarf, and the dragon is still steadfastly ignoring him. He glances over to where she's standing directly in front of the dragon's face. Cautiously, Felix makes his way to her, keeping his back against the edge of the earthen ravine wall, until he's standing just a few steps behind her. The dragon turns its steady, suspicious gaze on him but makes no other movement. Felix realizes he's been holding in a breath and releases it with more noise than he intends.

Juniper gently removes her hand from the dragon's elegant, scaly neck and walks backward toward him. She bends down and picks up a dead ferret and a dead bird (they've nearly run out of rabbits and have to distribute them cautiously now as they are by far the dragon's favorite). She tosses the bird by the limp legs across to the dragon. It catches the bird out of the side of its mouth and swallows it without chewing. It fixes her with a reproachful look as if it expects better treats from her.

Without turning, Juniper reaches behind her to where Felix is waiting and fumbles for his wrist, pulling him lightly forward to stand beside her. He doesn't resist. His heart is pounding with that mad excitement he feels every time he approaches a new milestone with the dragon. He finds he has begun to look forward to the sensation. Juniper raises the ferret in front of her, making sure the dragon's eyes are on it, then deliberately passes it across to Felix.

"Go on," she says when he fails to take it from her right away, "toss it up slowly." Felix grasps the ferret's tail in two fingers, wrinkling his nose slightly at the smell of the rotting animal corpse. As he draws his arm back he suddenly wonders when was the last time he's thrown anything by hand. He can't bring up a memory. His wild lob is far to the left of the dragon's head, but the dragon contorts its snake-like neck at a angle and manages to snatch the animal up before it hits the ground. It keeps its eyes on Felix as it chews twice, and he fancies they might look a shade less suspicious as it gulps the morsel down. Felix's grin is so wide it shows teeth and causes Juniper to giggle softly and turn her gaze toward him and away from the dragon for the first time.

* * *

It's a week after this that Felix finally touches the dragon, and if he has any remaining qualms about what he's doing they're driven from his mind entirely. He's just tossed a particularly large rabbit (they've replenished their stock of dead animals courtesy of an unwitting Professor Kettleburn) directly to the dragon's waiting jaws, his aim greatly improved. He reaches behind him for another treat, having mastered the art of finding what he's looking for while maintaining eye contact with the dragon. Juniper steps forward and reaches up to stroke the side of the dragon's face, a contact it's only recently permitted her.

As her hands move deliberately down the dragon's head toward it's neck, she calls out softly, "Come here," and reaches her free hand to gesture behind her toward where Felix is standing. Felix's eyes flick from the dragon to Juniper, wondering if he's heard her correctly and if she can possibly mean what he thinks she means. She makes a waving gesture with her outstretched hand, and he steels himself against the sudden, wonderful hammering of his heart against his chest as he walks toward her cautiously. He approaches at a slight angle, moving to stand just behind and slightly to the left of Juniper, putting her in between the dragon and himself. It lets out a short sound, perhaps of warning, like a single chord being played on a piano, but does not move to strike.

Felix stops just behind Juniper. He's close enough to her that he can smell her hair (the same gentle scent as on her scarf), and close enough to the dragon that he can see the delicate swirling lines that exist in each scale. The sight is mesmerizing. Juniper lowers the arm she's used to stroke the dragon and reaches behind her and across his body to grasp Felix's left hand. She lifts it slowly until his palm rests against the dragon's sparkling neck. It's warm, Felix is surprised to find, and incredibly smooth. The scales are joined so seamlessly together it's difficult to feel the end of one and beginning of another. He can feel the muscles in the dragon's neck stiffen as it senses this new touch. Felix keeps his hand very still, wondering if the dragon can feel his wild heartbeat through his fingers.

Juniper's hand guides the back of his, "Stroke down, then lift your hand. Don't stroke back up, it doesn't like that." Felix follows her instructions, caressing the dragon's powerful neck, and the feeling of exultant joy is so intense he has to fight the urge to laugh or sing or dance around like a fool. He's reminded forcefully of a time in his fourth year when a boy three years ahead of him returned to the common room after his first date with a girl he fancied, actually skipping down the stone stairs from the entrance wall and spinning around the room like a mad fairy. At the time, Felix had joined in with the rest of the Slytherins in taking the absolute mickey out of him. Now, has a good idea how the boy had felt.

Felix tries to keep his high spirits contained as they're leaving the dragon behind and walking back to the tree to deposit their bag, but he can't quite keep a bounce from his step nor a grin from tugging up the corners of his mouth. He's in such a good mood, he isn't even embarrassed when Juniper teases him about this. Instead, Felix laughs, really laughs; not a derisive snort but a full bellied sound of pure good feeling so infectious she can't help but join in.

"I have never seen you this happy." She says in wonder between peals of laughter. And Felix knows that in all his seventeen years, he has never _been_ this happy.


	4. Chapter 4

_Summary: "Blimey...this is you just liking something? I hate to imagine what you'd be like with something you actually love."_

* * *

If Felix Rosier, age sixteen, strict Slytherin prefect and manically dedicated 6th year student, had been told that one year in the future he would be spending nearly a third of each week sneaking out of school to visit a dragon in the dead of night, he would have docked points from whatever student was making up such a slanderous lie. And yet now he can be found, by those who bother to look, kipping in the back of classes, shirking prefect duties as often as he can get away with it, and nicking dead animals from the Care of Magical Creatures paddock whenever Kettleburn is not around.

Felix has no idea where this rebellious streak originated. True, he has never been afraid to bend or even break the rules on occasion in order to keep Slytherin the top house. He's jinxed other students, dueled outside classes, and lied to professors, but he has always justified his actions as necessary for the greater good of his house. Reckless rule breaking that does not further Slytherin's reputation or chances of winning the house cup, Felix considers selfish, a betrayal of their fraternity. He has never even broken curfew before, or sneaked down to the kitchens to steal food, let alone thrown nearly half the school rules out the window just to feed a dragon with Jacob Windsong's little sister.

_Maybe she's been a bad influence_, Felix thinks to himself one Transfiguration lesson after failing to answer Professor McGonagall's question for the second time. A year ago, he would have been livid with himself, but vanishing cauldrons seems so trivial now next to the very real presence that is the growing dragon. Felix is changing, he knows, his iron-clad discipline creaking under the strain of his newly discovered passion, and nights when he's not escaping to the forest it takes all his efforts to keep his mind on his studies.

Yes, it would be easy to blame the 13 year old curse-breaker, who has never met a rule she doesn't think herself above, but Felix knows that's not entirely true. Her influence and the dragon may have set it free, but this desire to do something - dangerous, physical, and just for himself - has always been there. He's just kept it hidden for so long he's forgotten.

They are halfway through October, and whether Felix or Juniper is better with the dragon is hard to say. Most of their evenings in the forest find Juniper at the dragon's head, feeding it treats and keeping it calm, while Felix circles its body, inspecting it from every angle. It is Felix who determines the dragon's sex.

"Male," he announces on his first perambulation.

"Well then, good boy, Sparky!" crows Juniper, stroking the back of the dragon's scaly head.

"It's still Sparky, then?" he asks bemusedly making his way steadily back around to her.

"Sure. Sparky can be a girl's or a boy's name."

"It isn't a name at all," insists Felix doggedly, but her only response is a merry laugh.

* * *

Felix also has better luck examining the dragon's (he refuses to think of it, _him_, as Sparky) injured wing. With Juniper holding its head and speaking softly, all while plying it with rabbits which it consumes in ever-increasing amounts, Felix manages to crouch down beside the dragon and inspect its injury.

A long gash has torn through the bottom panel of its left wing. Each side of the now parted wing has begun to heal up on its own; ugly, uneven scars forming on the torn edges. Felix is no expert, but as far as he can tell, through the absence of any pus or smell of rot, the wound is not infected. Still, the dragon seems to find the area tender, jerking involuntarily whenever Felix strokes his fingers feather-light across the developing scars, and it has still made no effort to fly away.

Felix begins to use the time not spent with the dragon to bury himself in the library researching wound care, healing spells, anything he thinks will help him discover a way to fix his dragon's wing. So single-minded has Felix become, that Juniper finds herself confronting him about the state of his schoolwork one afternoon in the library. She announces her presence by slamming a large book down on the table beside him in the corner where he has sequestered himself, earning a scandalized shush from Madam Pince shelving books a few rows over.

Felix looks up, startled, forcing his mind out of the book he's skimming on the potential use of Reparo on organic matter (the outlook not promising) and trying to focus his vision on the girl in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" he hisses, though his voice is too hoarse from disuse for it to contain any real venom. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"It's dinner," Juniper says, holding up her pocket watch as evidence.

"Oh," is all Felix can manage. He's a little disconcerted by the time, not realizing he has been in the library for hours. He looks back down at his book, put out, as he always is, at being interrupted while intent on reading. "Why aren't you in the Great Hall then?"

"Chester Davies is looking for you. He cornered a couple of first-years outside the common room demanding to see you."

"What?" Felix jerks his head back up abruptly. "Why?"

"Apparently," explains Juniper perching herself on top of the table, her back to the bookshelf so she can look directly at him, "you've missed your last two transfiguration revision sessions with the other prefects? Davies was worried we had you tied up or something."

She delivers this last as a joke, but Felix misses the humour entirely.

"I've been researching alternative methods of repairing the wing."

Juniper glances down at the books Felix has spread across the table, then cranes her neck around to read from the pages open in front of him.

"Reparo? You can't use that on animals, can you? And even if you could, I doubt the two of us casting it together would be enough for it to work on a dragon. You said yourself, dragon hide-"

"Yes, and you said _yourself_ it's juvenile and more susceptible to magic," Felix argues, his bad temper rising. "Besides, I'm mainly researching the theory. To see if the spell can be modified."

"Wow," Juniper says, eyes widening, "that's... an impressive undertaking." But she looks more concerned than impressed. "And is this _in addition to_ your regular school work or _in place of_?"

"What?" Felix snaps, itching to return to his book.

"It's just that..." Juniper swings her legs back and forth underneath the table nervously, "Davies mentioned you hadn't turned in your last transfiguration assignment which is really unusual for you so I just wondered -"

"Are you really going to try to lecture me about focusing on my schoolwork?" Felix's voice is waspish.

"I'm not lecturing, I'm inquiring," she answers carefully.

"Well, thank you for your _inquiry_, but I'm managing my workload just fine," Felix counters, staring pointedly back at his book to indicate the end of the conversation.

"Really?" questions Juniper, undaunted. "Would you consider that I, or anyone else in Slytherin, was 'managing just fine' if we were skipping our actual assignments to pursue personal projects?"

In spite of himself, Felix lifts his head again to glower at her, "Isn't that all you ever do?"

"Of course not! " Juniper retorts, looking slightly hurt.

"In fact, doesn't this all sound a little familiar to you? Have I not had this exact conversation with you at least once every term since you got here?"

Juniper's face is turning pink and she can't meet his eyes, "Not exactly, you yell a lot more than I-"

"And has it ever had even the slightest effect on your behavior? Because as far as I can tell it's all been wasted breath." Felix delivers his tirade in a furious hiss, quiet enough to escape the notice of Madam Pince, but Juniper leans further away with each word as though he were screaming at her. "So, one might conclude it's just a bit hypocritical of you to berate me for missing a single assignment when I know for a fact Professor Snape has banned you from Hogsmeade until you've brought up your marks!"

Juniper's face has turned a bright Gryffindor red, and she drops her head quickly hiding behind her long hair.

Felix stops, breathing heavily. He feels angry and agitated, and has half a mind to go on raging at her a bit more just to alleviate some of his tension. Before he can decide what to say, however, Juniper jerks her head up to look directly at him. Her cheeks are still burning, but her eyes are very clear and her mouth is set in that determined line Felix knows too well.

"You're wrong, you know. What you say _does _affect me." Juniper's voice comes out rough with suppressed emotion. She stops and takes a deep breath before continuing.

"I know you dog me about schoolwork because...well...you care. About everyone in Slytherin. In your way," Juniper adds hastily at the scandalized look on Felix's face. "You do, you know you do. You wouldn't waste your breath on us like that if you didn't. And I know it might not always come across because, well, I can't just give up on searching for my brother. But you've always inspired me to do better, for myself and for Slytherin."

Juniper looks down at the table where her fingernails trace random patterns in the wood.

"You know," she continues, haltingly, "when I first came to school, I honestly didn't expect to make it through the year. I figured I'd be expelled or killed or something. But none of that mattered... because finding my brother was the_ only_ thing that mattered. And you...you played a big part in making me realize that, well... there are other things that are important too. And I need to try and balance them, and not focus on my search for Jacob to the detriment of everything else."

Juniper says this last bit very quickly and somehow too easily, as though it's a line she's memorised, repeated to herself over and over.

Felix's anger flags as he takes in this rather alarming confession. He doesn't know whether he feels more touched that she appreciates his nagging, or outraged at the insinuation that their situations are in anyway comparable. He isn't obsessing about the dragon the way she obsesses about her brother. He's merely focused; the same way he is on any assignment.

Felix's ability to dedicate all of his attention to the task at hand has always benefited him, allowed him to master spells twice as quickly as his peers. True, it is taking him longer than he expected in this instance. And, in order to put in the time necessary to succeed with the dragon, he _has_ had to back-burner other things sometimes...the occasional study session, or homework assignment, or... History of Magic class...

Felix surveys the table in front of him as if seeing it for the first time. Precarious piles of books and scattered parchment notes litter his usually well organized work space. He notices his stomach rumbling and casts his mind back for the last time he's eaten a meal but can't remember. He's sure he must have had breakfast this morning...or dinner last night, at least? His head aches as well, just over his left eye.

Felix thinks back over his actions of the past few weeks and winces. Windsong is right. He's been as wrapped up in the dragon as she has been in finding her brother, and the thought makes him blanch. Caught up in his unexpected adventure, Felix has put out of his mind entirely the future waiting for him at the end of this year. The thought of all his responsibilities, duties, and expectations floods over him all at once, leaving him feeling slightly sick. How could he have risked his entire reputation for this?

"You might have a point," says Felix abruptly. He stands up and begins to gather his things.

Juniper slides off the table in alarm at Felix's sudden movement. His unexpected concession renders her momentarily speechless, a surprising state of affairs for her.

"Oh...um...really?" she manages.

"Yes." Felix glances at her, and it's the sly, superior expression his face is most accustomed to. "It's obvious we're not going to be able to fix this injury. All this," he nods at the books he's currently stacking up " it's just been a waste of time, really. And I do have other things that require my attention."

"That's not- I didn't mean- you don't have to-" Juniper stutters, apparently caught off guard by his rapid change in demeanor. Her voice trails away as she watches Felix's brisk movements.

Felix is determined not to look at her as he carefully places his notes, quill, and ink back into his bag. He wishes bitterly that she'd hidden all this better from him, that he had never seen a dragon, never discovered what it was like to do something dangerous and wild and free...it had been so much easier to live before he knew what he was living without.

Felix squeezes his eyes shut and runs a hand over his hair, smoothing it flat unconsciously. How can he go back to that - long nights spent reading and revising - when he knows there's a dragon out there, waiting for him? This was always temporary, he knows that; adventures don't last forever. But he isn't ready for it to be over...not yet...

Juniper's hand comes to rest on his forearm and Felix's eyes open automatically. Somehow, he sees her hand before he can feel it: long, delicate fingers, with short, slightly dirty nails. What look like slender pink burns peek around the sides of her fingers, and Felix wonders why they couldn't have been healed by magic. Neither of them move. Felix hears Juniper swallow hard before she speaks.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that I thought you were doing the wrong thing. It's...really cool the way you care so much about helping Sparky."

She squeezes his arm, very lightly; the pressure encouraging rather than threatening.

"Maybe we can take some of these with us," Juniper inclines her head at the books, "you know, do some research while we're with him? I used to sit and study when I was helping Hagrid with the Thestral. Helped get him accustomed to company while I got a bit of work done as well. What do you think?"

Felix raises his eyes to find Juniper peering at him anxiously, and he feels a sudden shame at berating her so harshly.

_She's just trying to help_, he realises, _it's what she does_. Hagrid, himself, the dragon, her brother...she helps people, even when they don't want it, even when it's dangerous. And she's too young or too stubborn to think about the consequences to herself if she doesn't succeed. _It's going to get her killed_, thinks Felix. So really... really it's his duty to keep going with her, to keep her safe. Isn't it?

It's a weak excuse. But any excuse is all Felix needs right now. The thought that his adventure isn't over, that he will see the dragon again, settles the queasiness in his stomach.

Felix gives Juniper a small smile in an attempt to appease her. "That's not a bad idea, Windsong. Good time management. Here." He grabs the topmost book from a pile without looking at it and hands it to her.

Juniper takes the book cautiously, still looking uncertain, "So... we're okay?"

The smile reaches his eyes now. "Yes, Windsong, we're okay."

"Okay," says Juniper, matching his smile with one slightly less enthusiastic than is her norm. "I'll see you tomorrow evening then."

She takes a step back.

"Tomorrow evening," Felix agrees with a nod.

Juniper turns, walking halfway down the aisle before doubling back and saying, "Oh, and do make sure and tell Davies you're alive before he and the other prefects mount a siege on the common room."

She flashes her signature lop-sided grin before hurrying away again.

* * *

"Can I ask you a question?" Juniper asks Felix the following evening. Their backs propped against the earthen wall of the ravine, they sit on a green and silver checked cloth Felix has conjured (to inexplicable giggles from Juniper) while she flips through the book from the library.

Felix watches Sparky trot away from them toward a sad little pool, hardly more than a deep puddle, at the other end of the valley. Seeing the dragon walk is something that has not yet ceased to give Felix a small thrill; the powerful muscles in its legs rippling as it moves so carefully and precisely, its wings stretched just enough to provide it a graceful balance. He can't imagine what it must be like to watch it fly.

Thus distracted, Felix answers "Yes," without thinking.

"What is it with you and dragons?"

Felix glances over to find Juniper staring at him, her head cocked to the side and propped up on one hand.

"What do you mean?" he replies, self-consciously. The way she stares at him reminds him of the way his mother looks at paintings in museums. Felix finds it discomfiting.

"You know what I mean." Juniper lifts her head off her hand. "You wouldn't be out here if Sparky were, say, an Abraxan, would you?"

It's a rhetorical question, and she doesn't wait for an answer. "When you agreed to let me sneak out of the common room that first night, I assumed you must have some secret motive, like wanting powdered dragon claw or something. But it was really just because you wanted to see a dragon, wasn't it?"

Felix doesn't respond to this, turning instead to watch Sparky drink from the little pool. It's strewn with leaves from the trees that overhang the sides of the ravine, and he notices the dragon makes a point of fastidiously avoiding them as it laps up water with its strangely narrow tongue.

"So..." Juniper persists, "What is it about dragons that makes you hang the rule book and skive off school work?"

Felix shrugs, studiously not looking at her. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" she repeats skeptically.

He sighs. "They're... interesting."

"Interesting?" Juniper repeats him again, and Felix makes an exasperated noise.

"What do you want me to say? There isn't any particular reason! I just-"

Sounds of splashing cause them both to glance over at Sparky. The dragon is now using a foreleg to smack the leaves floating in the pool. One soggy leaf catches on the dragon's claw, and it lifts it out of the water and shakes it vigorously.

Felix cannot stop himself. He smiles fondly at it and murmurs, "I've always liked dragons."

"Blimey," says Juniper, watching Felix again instead of Sparky. "This is you just liking something? I hate to imagine what you'd be like with something you actually love." She turns back to the book, shaking her head, a smile playing at her lips.

Felix tears his gaze from Sparky as the dragon trots back over to settle in the grass. Juniper returns to absently thumbing through pages , and Felix watches her debating whether or not to broach the subject he's burning to discuss. It's dangerous, he knows. It's a clear violation of their unspoken agreement to keep conversation about the dragon and not each other. But, Felix supposes, she's the one who made it personal first. He takes a deep breath.

"May I ask_ you _a question?"

Juniper looks up from the book. " 'Course."

Felix takes the time to meet her eyes before saying, "Why is it so important to find out what happened to your brother?"

It's as though a light has turned off behind her eyes. Her face becomes entirely blank. She says nothing.

Felix is expecting this however, and presses on. He knows it's impertinent and not really any of his business. But after their confrontation in the library, he feels compelled to say what he's thinking.

"Look, by all accounts, Jacob was into everything he shouldn't have been: the cursed vaults, the dark arts. He was expelled for heaven's sake and you... you say you're looking for him, but you're really just following in his footsteps. And it's just made everything harder for you, hasn't it? Do you think that's what he would have wanted for you? To make his same mistakes? Rather than putting the past behind you and making a name for yourself? One that's about you and your talent and not about him?"

Juniper continues to stare at Felix, but now it's with something like pity.

"You don't have siblings, do you."

It's a statement, not a question.

"No," Felix confirms.

Juniper is quiet for a few more seconds.

"How about a best friend?"

Felix considers this. He thinks briefly of Evan, his closest cousin, who spent summer holidays with him teaching him rare curses and occasionally trying them out on him. He thinks of the other prefects that he spends time with during revision sessions and patrol duties. And of the Slytherin boys from his year, most of whom he talks to fairly regularly and some of whom can be counted on for a favor provided the cost to them isn't too high. But a best friend? Felix isn't even sure what that would entail.

"I don't...know," he finally says, hesitantly.

Juniper's smile is forced and somehow sad. "Then I don't know that I can explain."

She drops her gaze to where her fingers are absently drawing circles in the dirt beside the book.

Juniper's words rankle Felix. While he's used to accepting such pronouncements from his parents and professors, he has never taken well to being told he can't do something or know something by other students, especially ones younger than himself .

_As if having "best friends" gives you access to some secret knowledge other people aren't qualified to understand_, Felix thinks hotly.

"Try me," he challenges.

Juniper starts, clearly shocked at his combativeness. Her mouth opens and her eyes flash and Felix is sure she's about to snap something at him. But at the last second Juniper stops and sighs deeply, the fight gone out of her all in an instant. To Felix's surprise, she begins to speak.

"Jacob was my brother and my best friend." Juniper begins in a fast, flat sort of voice, as if she's reading from a book she's not particularly interested in. "Which is silly, he's ten years older than I am but..."

She pauses, eyes closed, collecting her thoughts. "My parents, they're older and they were always working, and they just didn't have time for a little kid. I had a house elf that took care of me and gave me lessons but I didn't really have any friends. We don't live near any other wizarding families and none of my parents' friends have children my age. So Jacob was really my only friend growing up."

Juniper can't help but smile as she speaks of her brother. "And he always treated me like I was his friend, not a kid sister. Over the holidays he spent nearly all his time with me, making up adventures for us to go on or just talking. Letting me ramble on about my life at home like I had anything worth saying." She rolls her eyes self-deprecatingly at this. "And he never made me feel stupid or like I was too young to have thoughts or feelings. And when he was at school he wrote to me, all the time, no matter how busy he was. He would tell me everything that happened to him, make me feel like...like he valued my opinion."

Juniper sighs again. "Of course, I know now it was mostly all lies, what he wrote. He never told me anything about cursed vaults or the dark arts or anything that would have got him expelled. I guess I didn't really know him at all."

She admits this last in a small voice and trails off, gazing at Sparky.

"But I do know," Juniper adds, looking back to Felix, her voice gathering strength again, "that if it were me that were lost, Jacob would never stop looking. Ever. No matter what it cost him."

Her eyes boring into his are as fierce as the dragon's and Felix is at a loss for what to say.

* * *

That night in bed, Felix mentally compiles a list of the people he's closest to, anyone that might be conceivably classified as a friend, and tries to decide if there's anyone he'd go to so much trouble to find if they went missing. No one name sticks out readily.

Felix considers his parents: his mother? Surely if his mother went missing he would look for her. No, he concludes, most likely his father would forbid him from taking any action, certainly any action that would harm the family's reputation. His father would look for her though, wouldn't he? Or hire someone to look for her? For some reason, the thought makes Felix uncomfortable.

Then he wonders if his parents would come looking for _him_ if _he_ disappeared.

Felix considers potential scenarios. Maybe if he were kidnapped or vanished without a trace one morning with no warning. They would certainly make an attempt to find him then; it would be a shame on the family not to. But... if he went poking around something he wasn't supposed to, was in trouble with the law, then finally disappeared in disgrace?

_They would disavow me_, Felix thinks brutally, _strike me from the family tree, refuse to speak my name, pretend I never existed_.

The knowledge leaves him cold, and Felix suddenly feels all alone in a castle of hundreds of students and teachers. None of them would miss him if he were to disappear, he realizes miserably, not really miss him. Not enough to find him. They would wonder about him for a little while, then forget him entirely.

Felix feels a sudden surge of jealousy toward Jacob Windsong. To have someone be so devoted to you they would stop at nothing, risk their whole life, future, reputation just for the slightest chance to have you back...

_I want that_, Felix admits to himself. But it's not a particularly comforting revelation, and he drifts off to sleep feeling lonely and morose.


	5. Chapter 5

_Summary: A shiver runs through Felix that has nothing to do with the cold. Something does not feel right about the way the dragon is staring at them. Its eyes are more menacing, more calculating than he has ever seen before...and he realises all in an instant the very real danger they're in._

* * *

November arrives unreasonably cold and gloomy, even for Scotland, and presents a growing problem with Felix and Juniper's dragon. Quite literally. Sparky is now almost 12 feet in length, and is becoming obviously restless with his small enclosure. Felix makes note of the way the dragon paces the edges of the ravine, craning his neck over the top. Occasionally, he makes an attempt to claw at the earthen walls. And although the dirt is always too soft to support the dragon's weight, crumbling away before he can get a foothold, Felix begins to be seriously concerned.

"He needs exercise," Juniper says as they walk back to the castle in the wee hours of the morning. With no sun to provide even an illusion of warmth, the air is frigid and both are huddled deep inside their cloaks.

"He needs more space," argues Felix, trying not to shiver too visibly. "He can't stay there for much longer."

"Well, where would you like to put him, then, the Quidditch pitch?" asks Juniper shortly, though whether it's the temperature or the situation grating at her nerves Felix can't say.

"Of course not," he snaps back, pushing his scarf down past his mouth to speak more freely. "I mean, it's time we think about finding a more permanent home for him. Get him back up to the mountains somehow. We're no closer to fixing his wing than we were two months ago, and he's only going to get bigger. If we wait too long, he'll be climbing out of there on his own and then he's bound to be spotted."

Juniper considers this as they exit the forest. Once they leave the relative protection provided by the trees, however, the two Slytherins are hit by the full force of the bitter wind, and are forced to duck their heads and make a undignified sprint for the castle. Further conversation is impossible until they reach the warmth and safety of their common room.

"You know, we don't _know_ that he can't fly," remarks Juniper as she unwinds her scarf from around her neck and stuffs it into her pocket.

"He wouldn't still be here if he could," Felix replies, folding his own scarf neatly and draping it over his arm.

"Not necessarily. He doesn't have any real space to manoeuvre in that ditch thing. It could be he just doesn't have enough room to take off," Juniper pulls out her silver pocket watch to check the time. "Plus, the tree canopy is pretty thick there, there's only a few little gaps. He might not even know he can fly out that way. I never did find out how he got in there."

Felix mulls this over as his eyes sweep automatically across the common room, checking for any evidence of wrongdoing that may have occurred in his absence.

"I suppose that's a possibility," he concedes dubiously. "But how are we going to get him out of there to test him? And where can we take him where he won't be seen?"

"I have an idea about the second one," says Juniper thoughtfully, "But not the first. How do you get a dragon out a ditch?"

* * *

_ How do you get a dragon out of a ditch?_

It sounds like the set-up to a joke, Felix thinks wryly, but the question consumes him over the next two days.

Levitate it? That's a simple enough spell, and they're both excellent at Charms. There's a good chance the two of them together could lift the dragon out. Although, Felix admits to himself, levitating a heavy _object _is not the same as levitating a heavy, struggling, magic-resistant _dragon_. And even if they managed it, he seriously doubts the dragon will appreciate their efforts. Felix supposes they could put it to sleep first, or immobilise it, but those spells are rather more difficult. And if they don't succeed on the first try...

At best, they'll likely lose whatever small trust they've earned with the dragon, and at worst, it could attack. Creatures don't generally take kindly to magic being used on them, and it's not as if the two students can explain what they're trying to do.

Felix wishes he could pick Juniper's brain about the issue. She's been known to have the occasional clever idea. But they rarely have the opportunity to speak to each other outside of their evening excursions. If there is anyone at Hogwarts with less free time than Felix, it's Juniper Windsong. Between her commitments to her burgeoning friend group and the Slytherin Quidditch team, the new cursed vault phenomena that he's _sure _she's still secretly investigating, and the school work he can only assume she's keeping up with, Juniper has every minute of her day accounted for. The only times he sees her in the common room anymore are occasional evening revision sessions with Rowan, and Felix isn't keen to discuss their illicit trips to the forest in front of anyone else.

It's for this reason that the first time the two of them can really discuss their dragon problem in depth is as they walk toward it together the next evening.

"What about using reducio on him? Shrink him down?" suggests Juniper through her many layers. "Then we can reverse it with engorgio when we're somewhere else."

Their footsteps crunch loudly as they step through the now frost-tinged grass and brambles carpeting the forest floor.

"It's incredibly risky using the shrinking charm on living things, you know that," chides Felix.

"I do know, but I also know it's possible. I've done it on myself loads of times," Juniper boasts.

Felix furrows his brow. "That does_ not _make it any less risky." he counters, disapproval in his voice. "Anyway, you're a good deal smaller and lighter than a dragon. I don't know that we'd be able to pull it off just the two of us.

"And even if we did," he continues, raising his voice over Juniper's fledgling argument, "I don't think he'll appreciate being shrunk and resized. It could provoke him to attack."

"Hmm," Juniper hums, sounding slightly annoyed. She pushes a thin, whipping branch to the side with a little too much force and it snaps. "I suppose you're probably right. What's your better idea, then?"

"I think we'll have more luck using magic on the surrounding terrain than the dragon itself, predicts Felix sagely.

"What, blast a hole in one of the walls or something?"

Felix smirks, a little smug. Powerful for her age Juniper may be, but her magic is still lacking in finesse. "Or something."

While Juniper tosses rabbits up to Sparky as quickly as she can (the dragon eats them in one gulp now and is always impatient for more), Felix walks to the opposite side of the valley and inspects the wall near the small pool of water. Like all the surrounding walls, it's formed of dirt and earth with roots and small stones stuck in at random. But the wall nearest the water has a stickier, clay-like texture that Felix thinks might be better suited to the plan he has in mind. He runs his gloved hand along it, searching for the firmest area.

Felix hears the dragon's heavy footfalls behind him and turns to see Juniper approaching, the sack over her shoulder and the dragon at her heels. He makes eye contact with it, wondering if the burning, inscrutable look in its eyes might be interpreted as curiosity. _They're more intelligent than anyone gives them credit fo_r, thinks Felix fondly.

"So," Juniper says, stamping her feet a bit with cold, free hand deep in the pocket of her trousers, "What's the plan?"

Felix turns back to the earth in front of him. "Just watch," he says and pulls out his wand.

"Defodio," Felix pronounces clearly, directing his wand in a horizontal line. A deep gouge appears in the wall, the displaced earth falling to the ground in a small shower. Juniper and the dragon both take a step back. Felix repeats his spell again and again over the course of several minutes, changing the direction of his wand, until finally, solid earth steps about a metre wide form a rough but sizable staircase leading out of the valley.

"And there you are," proclaims Felix, more than a little proud of himself.

"Wow!" Juniper breathes out. She grins broadly at Felix, obviously impressed. "Very cool!"

Juniper moves closer to inspect the staircase while Felix tries hard to arrange his features into a more modest expression. He's unduly pleased with her praise.

"Will they hold Sparky up, do you reckon?" she asks.

"One way to find out," Felix replies, reaching out to take the bag from her shoulder. "You go first, you're the lightest."

Juniper shoots a face at Felix as if this were an offensive statement, although he can't see how, but she makes no comment as she begins to climb carefully. The steps being spaced for a creature with a much longer stride, Juniper is forced to use her hands as well. When she reaches the top, Felix walks forward to examine the steps. There's no visible wear to them, only the light imprint of her shoes.

"They look alright," Felix declares, turning slightly to face the dragon. Sparky's eyes are fixed hungrily on the bag slung carelessly across his shoulder. "I guess the real trick will be getting him to actually climb them."

"Hand up the sack," Juniper calls down. Careful not to turn his back to the dragon, Felix awkwardly slings the bag up toward Juniper's waiting fingers.

"Stand out of his way," she instructs Felix. He takes a few steps back and to the side so Sparky has a clear view of the stairs and the girl.

"Here, Sparky!"

Juniper throws a rabbit underhand toward where Sparky is standing. The dragon snatches it out of the air, but makes no movement forward. She aims her next throw at the bottom of the stairs, too far for the dragon to catch without moving. Sparky steps forward to pick up the rabbit, and Juniper takes a few steps back from the edge of the ravine.

"Here, boy!" Juniper calls again, this time tossing the rabbit onto the topmost step. Sparky places a foreleg on the bottom of the rough staircase and cranes his neck up to grab the treat.

Felix waits with bated breath, willing the step to hold. It does.

"C'mon, Sparky," encourages Juniper, but the dragon needs no more incentive. Recognizing an escape route, Sparky makes a hasty scramble up the wide steps. His claws leave deep gouges in the earth but it holds, and the dragon reaches the top and thrusts himself over the ledge in a matter of seconds.

"Yes!" Felix exclaims under his breath, flushed with his success.

Sparky lets out an exultant, musical roar like a trumpet's reveille, and Felix realises belatedly that Juniper is now alone facing a dragon with a full range of movement.

"Windsong!" he cries as he rushes toward the steps, taking them as fast as he can.

When Felix reaches the top, however, he finds Juniper is already moving off through the forest, tossing rabbits at a merrily trotting Sparky.

"Follow me! I know a place," she says brightly, as if they were guiding nothing more dangerous than a lost mooncalf.

Shaking his head, Felix brings up the rear of their strange caravan as they make their way through the forest in the opposite direction of the castle. As he walks, Felix notices the trees in this part of the forest seem less densely clumped, and some are bent and broken at strange angles, as though something strong had forced a path through them. He wonders if this is the way the dragon took into the forest in the first place.

* * *

After a brief walk, the tree line comes to an abrupt end at the top of a small, rolling hill. Their little train stutters to a halt, and Juniper moves aside so Sparky can take in the landscape. As Felix walks around the dragon to stand beside Juniper, he sees what look like sloping plains covered in long grass, waving eerily in the dark.

"We're here!" says Juniper proudly. "These grasslands go on for miles. Sparky will have plenty of space to-"

Juniper breaks off, covering her ears, as the dragon lets out a musical roar of obvious approval right next to her. With no further warning, Sparky breaks into a camper down the hill and across the dark ground, wings outstretched and tail dancing behind him. The force of his movement throws Juniper off balance, and Felix has to put out a hand to steady her elbow so she doesn't fall. She seems not to notice, all her attention on the dragon's diminishing outline.

"Sparky!" Juniper cries, running forward clumsily as the bag bounces on her back.

Felix has no choice but to follow her. Flat-out running is not an action he's much practiced in and he descends the hill with more caution than Juniper. He doesn't catch her up until she stops, a few minutes later, bent over double and breath coming in gasps. Energy, she may have in spades, but the tiny thirteen year old is simply not capable of matching a dragon's speed.

"What do we do?" Juniper asks Felix between gasps. He hears something unfamiliar in her voice and thinks it might be panic.

Felix stares out into the dark, empty plain ahead of them where the figure of the dragon grows rapidly smaller and smaller. There's a lump in his throat as he answers.

"We don't do anything. It's...he's free now. That was the whole point, wasn't it?"

Felix does his best to keep his voice steady and confident, revealing nothing of the sick writhing in his stomach. He has completely failed to consider how it would feel for something that had come to mean so much to him in the last two months to be suddenly gone from his life.

"But we don't know if he can fly yet! He'll never survive if he can't fly." Her voice rising in pitch and volume. "Someone will see him! The ministry will get called in! We can't just let him run away!" Juniper's tone reveals all the brokenness Felix feels but cannot show.

"We can't exactly stop him," Felix wants to comfort her, wants to comfort himself, but he doesn't have the first idea how. "And... we don't know that he can't fly, like you said."

Felix is saved from trying to think up more platitudes by a thunderous noise and the reappearance of the brilliantly green dragon in the distance ahead of them.

Sparky is running flat out, wings spread wide as if poised for flight. Every few steps, the dragon gives a sort of wild hop, throwing himself forward and pulling his legs in, powerful wings beating rhythmically at his sides. But while wind catches underneath the right wing, the left wing falters, the torn wing panels fluttering uselessly. Sparky lands on his face and forelegs, skidding forward with a roar of frustration. Momentum keeps him moving, and he runs forward another few steps before trying the comical manoeuvre again.

Juniper and Felix watch wordlessly for several minutes as the dragon tries desperately to take flight. After one particularly fierce jump, Sparky slams hard into the ground and lets out a screech of pain and frustration like a strangled clarinet.

Juniper puts her hand across her mouth and turns her head away. Felix understands. It's a painful sight, watching such a magnificent creature reduced to this pathetic, undignified scramble. His heart aches as Sparky cries out again, obvious despair in the deep musical roar.

"I guess... that answers that question," Juniper whispers.

They wait there in the cold grass for what feels like hours, unsure of what to do or how to help.

Eventually, Sparky wears himself out. He throws himself to the ground in a heap, releasing one last bellow, like a fiery sob. The dragon rests in the grass a short distance away for several minutes before Juniper finds her feet. She drags the sack up from where she's let it slump to the ground, and begins to walk forward.

"Sparky," calls Juniper softly, reaching into the bag for a rabbit.

The dragon raises its head, his eyes weary, but still alight with that ferocious yellow fire.

"Windsong, wait!" Felix hisses, catching her up and grabbing her arm to stop her getting any closer. "He may not be in the best mood right now."

"Well, we can't just leave him there, we have to get him back," says Juniper, ever pragmatic, and wrenches her arm free. She continues to step forward, perhaps with a shade more caution, keeping her eyes on the panting dragon.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Felix whispers from behind her. He isn't sure why, but the nerves he felt during his first few visits with the dragon have returned, and he feels the need to keep his voice low.

"The same way we got him here," Juniper replies testily. She's close enough to make eye contact with Sparky, and she tosses a rabbit toward him.

The dragon lets the rabbit fall to the ground, his reptilian eyes never leaving Juniper's. For several tense seconds, they stare at each other. Then, with almost sarcastic slowness, Sparky lowers his head to the small corpse and snaps it up, swallowing it whole and maintaining eye contact all the while.

Juniper and Felix stand awkwardly in front of the dragon, unsure how to interpret this little display.

"C'mon, Sparky," Juniper cajoles,"Time to go home." She takes a few steps back and tosses another rabbit about a metre in front of the dragon's face.

Sparky does not move. His eyes, still fixed on Juniper, are venomous and resentful.

"You can do it, Sparky," she says coaxingly. She walks backward, tossing a third rabbit, and then a fourth, creating a trail for the dragon to follow.

With exaggerated slowness, the dragon clambers to his feet and takes deliberate steps toward Juniper, scooping up the rabbits as he walks.

"See?" Juniper says in relief to Felix, who is keeping pace beside her, "He's just tired."

But a shiver runs through Felix that has nothing to do with the cold. Something does not feel right about the way the dragon is staring at them. Its eyes are more menacing, more calculating than he has ever seen before. He suddenly remembers everything he's ever read about how dragons cannot be domesticated, how they feel no true affection for humans.

_They're more intelligent than anyone give them credit for,_ Felix thinks again, only this time it's with dread. While he had no way to escape or hunt, Sparky had permitted their presence. But now that he's free, Felix knows the dragon regards them as threats. And he realises all in an instant the very real danger they're in.

Felix draws his wand surreptitiously.

"Windsong," he whispers as quietly as he can, but the dragon turns its head a fraction to stare him in the eye. Felix gulps unconsciously. When he continues, he keeps his voice even and low, "I want you to draw your wand, very slowly. No sudden movements."

Juniper glances at him, confused. She does not seem to have picked up at all on the dragon's change of attitude. "Why?" she asks softly.

They're approaching the edge of the forest now. The small hill, the only thing between them and the cover of the trees, is just a few steps behind.

"I don't think he's going to come with us," mutters Felix.

As he speaks, Sparky looks up and notices the looming forest as well. Fast as lightning, the dragon drops his head between his front legs and lets out a ferocious roar that roots them to the spot.

"I think you might be right," Juniper whispers, her voice hoarse.

Felix watches the dragon stamp out a challenge in front of them, trying to think through his fear.

"When I say, we make a run for the trees," murmurs Felix, keeping his voice as calm as he can. "Make for the denser areas where it can't get through."

"But we have to get him back," Juniper insists, and her doggedness in the face of their mortal danger causes Felix's nerves to snap.

"Windsong!" he barks, taking his eyes from the dragon to glare at her, and Sparky lunges.

There's a bright green blur on the edge of Felix's vision. His body knows what's happening before his brain has time to process. Felix grabs Juniper's arm and yanks her behind him as he runs forward and to the side of the pouncing dragon, skirting it by a hair.

Sparky skids to a halt, trying to change direction quickly, and Felix uses that split second to push Juniper ahead of him up the hill.

"Run!" he commands, glancing behind to determine Sparky's location.

The dragon is already crouched for a second spring, and Felix knows they won't make the top of the hill in time to avoid it. Wand drawn, he aims for the dragon's eyes and yells out the conjunctivitis curse.

Sparky is in the air as the spell hits him square in the face, and his shriek of pain is a cacophony of discordant notes. The dragon falls forward, shy of the two students by a few blades of grass.

Sparky continues to scream, scraping his face across the cold, soft ground in an attempt to relieve the pain in its eyes, but Felix does not stop to watch further. He takes the hill in a few rapid strides and grabs Juniper's arm again as she stands frozen, watching the dragon writhing below. He manages to pull her forward a few steps, almost to the treeline, but Juniper struggles against his grip.

"We- can't- leave- him- here!" She emphasizes each word firmly, her voice loud but surprisingly calm. It infuriates him.

"Windsong!" Felix snarls at her, tightening his grip on her arm until he's sure it's painful. "That creature is not your pet, it's a dragon! It's dangerous and it does not care about you, and it's going to _kill _us-"

"Exactly!" Juniper interjects, trying desperately to prise his fingers from her. "We can't leave a dangerous, angry dragon loose on school grounds!" She speaks so rapidly he can barely understand her. "Even if by some miracle it doesn't hurt anyone, there's no way it isn't discovered now. And then we're sure to be expelled!"

Below them, they can hear the dragon stamping and roaring, still attempting to clear its vision.

"No one has to know it was us," argues Felix impatiently. "We run back to the castle. We never speak of this again!"

"Felix," Juniper says his name urgently. She ceases her struggling and, instead, reaches out to grab his other hand, squeezing gently, willing him to listen to her.

Felix's whole body stills, and the sounds of the dragon seem strangely faraway.

_"We_ did this! If he hurts someone, Hagrid or Kettleburn or a student, or anyone else who tries to stop him, it'll be our fault. We have to stop him somehow. He's our responsibility!"

Below them, the dragon's screams turn from pain to rage. They can hear its claws scrape the earth of the hill as it attempts to climb blindly toward where they're standing. The renewed sense of danger breaks the spell Juniper's voice has created.

"You're mad," Felix blurts out. "Completely mad."

He wrenches his hands out of hers.

"You want to stay here and be killed? Be my guest." Felix turns his back firmly on Juniper and the dragon and sprints into the dark trees.

"Felix!" He hears Juniper yell angrily after him, but he ignores her.

* * *

Felix takes a few steps into the forest, searching for the thickest clump of foliage he can find. He throws himself behind a tangle of willowy trees all intertwined and growing on top of each other, and sinks to the ground. Felix listens hard for the noise of the dragon, or Juniper, behind him, but the beating of his own heart in his ears makes everything around him sound muffled. He takes a deep breath, and then another, waiting for the panic to subside.

_She'll come to her senses_, he assures himself._ She's not that stupid, she knows she can't battle a dragon on her own. Any second she'll come tearing through the trees._

Sparky's roars sound from close by, but not, Felix thinks, in the forest yet. The ground beneath him shakes very slightly with the dragon's furious, lumbering steps.

_It can't see her,_ he tells himself. _She'll get away_.

But then Felix hears Juniper's voice, yelling "Flipendo!" and he groans aloud. _Did she really just try to trip it?_ he thinks with a cringe.

There's another roar from the dragon and more stomping. Then a loud_ crack _close by, and an ominous creaking. Felix leaps out from his hiding place, wand raised. A tree at the edge of the forest is swaying precariously, the dragon's powerful tail whipping away from it as it stalks back around.

Felix can't see Juniper, but he hears another cry of "Depulso!" and sees the dragon stumble back very slightly, as though pushed by a rough wind. But the spell is not powerful enough to actually blast Sparky off his feet. Instead, the dragon roars with fury and charges in the direction of Juniper's voice.

Felix can't believe what he's about to do. There are voices in his head screaming at him, but he pushes them away and focuses on the task at hand, the way he does best. He picks his spell decisively, and runs forward faster than he knew he could, aiming for the dragon's feet.

"Immobolus!" Felix shouts, putting all the power he can muster behind his jinx, all the force of will he has and some he was previously unaware of.

The dragon's clawed feet freeze up just as it takes a step, causing it to fall spectacularly to the ground and roll heavily down the hill, its tail whipping wildly behind it. The tail connects with something as it thrashes; there's a yelp, and a shadowy silhouette flies through the air much too quickly and hits the ground near the trees.

For one heart-stopping moment, Felix sees only a too-still body and forgets how to think, how to breathe... then he hears her groan. Felix exhales so forcefully he can feel pieces of his hair flutter where they've fallen against his face. He staggers over to where Juniper is propping herself into a sitting position.

"Are you alright?" Felix asks, his voice raw. He half bends down beside her, awkwardly, unsure how to help.

"Of course," Juniper says with obvious pain, clutching her side as she gets heavily to her feet. She's panting hard, covered in scratches, scrapes, and dirt. But when she turns her face to his, she's beaming. "I knew you wouldn't really leave."

It's a praise, not a taunt, but Felix is too focused to feel proud at the moment.

"We're not done yet. That jinx will wear off in a minute." He peers down the small hill to where the dragon lays winded, tiny notes of angry music erupting from it like someone striking a xylophone. "Or less."

"What can we do?" asks Juniper, reaching down to pick up her wand with a small grunt of effort, other hand still holding her side, "We'll do more damage if we cast together."

"Probably, but you don't know any spells powerful enough to incapacitate a dragon."

As they speak, Sparky starts to clamber to his feet clumsily, the last vestiges of the jinx still tugging at its limbs.

"Then let's try my original plan," Juniper says, her words nearly unintelligible under the dragon's renewed roars of frustration.

"What?" Felix asks, confused.

"Shrink it!"

Sparky shuffles around to face the direction of their voices, bloodshot eyes searching for them blearily.

Felix shakes his head slowly, "That's -"

"You have one second to think of a better idea."

He can't.

The dragon finally focus on the two students and it shrieks its triumph and fury.

"On three then," Felix says raising his wand.

"On three," agrees Juniper raising her own, her face set grimly.

"One."

They chant together as the dragon takes a stumbling step forward.

"Two."

They take aim at the dragon's center mass.

"Three."

Sparky crouches, ready to spring, as Felix and Juniper cry out as one:

"Reducio!"


	6. Chapter 6

_Summary: "That's actually a really good idea." "My ideas generally are." "No," she says, now regarding him thoughtfully. "I mean, Dragonology. As a profession. For you."_

* * *

"REDUCIO"

Felix's ears ring with the sudden absence of sound. He blinks rapidly. The world around him seems somehow darker than it did a minute before, as if the emerald dragon had been giving off its own light.

Felix is hyper aware of his heartbeat, twice as fast as usual, and his breath coming in shallow gasps. Something drips from his hairline down his forehead and, reaching up, he feels sweat beading his brow; like he's been battling with sword and shield instead of a wand.

"Did it work?" Juniper asks from beside him. Her wand arm is still raised to chest height, feet planted firmly as if expecting the dragon to attack again at any second. But Sparky is now nowhere to be seen.

Felix stares hard into the darkness where the dragon had crouched just a moment before.

"I think so..." he answers slowly. He squints, trying to pick out an outline or any sign of movement. "Either that or-"

A rustling in the grass near their feet causes them both to jump back. Something small and fast hurtles itself across the ground toward them. An emerald green something...

"Sparky?" Juniper says in a choked voice, somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

A Common Welsh Green dragon, wings spread wide and eyes murderous, stops just in front of Juniper. It bares its fangs at her, dropping its head in between its forelegs and clawing at the ground in a clear challenge. All of which would have been terrifying if the dragon were not now the size of a large mouse. It lets out what it clearly intends to be a threatening roar, but sounds more like a whistling tea kettle.

Juniper giggles reflexively.

Felix stares in slack-jawed disbelief at the shrunken Sparky. They did it. They _really _did it. It's so implausible, so incredible that he cannot stop himself from laughing as well; less from amusement than from sheer grateful relief. His laughter only encourages Juniper, now almost crying with mirth. She clutches her injured side, inflamed by her hysterics, and lets herself sink carefully to the ground.

The dragon, perhaps incensed at being the butt of ridicule, makes a lunge for her outstretched trainer, pouncing onto the side of the shoe and sinking its teeth into the sole.

"Oi!" Juniper protests amid laughs. She tries to grab the pocket-sized dragon around the middle like one might grab a niffler. But Sparky, though tiny, is no less fierce. The dragon swipes at her hand with a miniature claw. Juniper gives a little yip of pain and surprise and jumps up, shaking her foot to dislodge the dragon from her shoe.

Felix's laughter dies at once, his focus reasserting itself. The dragon is still dangerous and the shrinking charm won't last forever. He bends forward to snatch Sparky off Juniper's foot, hands protected by his dragon-hide gloves. But the mini-dragon dodges him nimbly, leaps into the grass, and scampers toward the forest, fast as lightning.

"We can't let him get away!" Juniper cries, limping off after him, but Felix has a better idea.

"Accio, dragon!" Felix calls, pointing his wand toward Sparky. A little green blur comes streaking toward his outstretched glove. Sparky erupts into tinny screeches as he struggles for freedom, and Felix has to drop his wand and use both hands to wrestle Sparky into a tighter hold.

"Where's the sack?" Felix asks Juniper over Sparky's high-pitched protestations.

"I...I'm not sure," she says, turning in a circle as she looks all around her for the place where she dropped the bag of dead animals during their flight from the full-sized Sparky.

"Well, find it!" Felix snaps at her, and Juniper takes off down the hill.

Sparky's silky scales feel as though they've been greased, and, try as he might, Felix cannot get a firm grip. He's reduced to placing his hands one in front of the other in a continuous loop for Sparky to crawl over, to prevent him falling to the hard earth below.

"Hold! Still!" he grumbles loudly at the shrunken Sparky.

The dragon does a quick about-face to look directly at Felix, its tiny yellow eyes on fire with rage. It shrieks its challenge like a kazoo, and makes a run up Felix's arm. Felix can feel the minuscule claws catch in the fabric of his jumper, slowing its progress and giving him time to snatch it by the tail. Before he can pull it away, however, Sparky sinks his needle-like fangs through the layers of clothing and into Felix's skin, just below the crook of his elbow.

Felix lets out a stream of curses as he tries to prise the dragon from his arm. Its teeth, though small, are locked firmly into his flesh, and Felix can't suppress a small cry as he rips the dragon off of him. Juniper rushes up the hill toward him, sack now in hand, and Felix drops the chittering dragon unceremoniously into it.

"Careful with him!" Juniper whines.

Felix glares at her, blood dripping pointedly from his arm.

* * *

She grimaces sympathetically. "Sorry!" she says, as the bag in her hand rustles violently. "How bad is it?"

Felix holds his arm up to his face to inspect the bite. Blood is welling up thickly around it, making it difficult to see much about the wound itself. "Welsh Greens aren't venomous so it should be fine for now. We need to hurry and get Sparky back to the valley before the spell wears off."

Felix reaches down with his uninjured arm to pick up his wand, then makes as though to take the wriggling bag from Juniper, but she moves it out of his reach, saying, "I've got it. You're hurt."

Felix opens his mouth to argue but Juniper cuts him off before he can begin. "You've already saved my life tonight. That's all the chivalry I can stomach just at present," she says firmly and turns away, marching toward the forest as quickly as her injured side allows.

It's a reluctant sun that rises behind the Hogwarts castle that morning, its weak rays making only a halfhearted attempt to chip away at the frigid air. Frost coats the foliage of the forest, the leaves glittering in the early light, as two bedraggled figures trudge wearily out of the trees. One limps ever so slightly, holding its side, while the other clutches its forearm tightly with the opposite hand. Both hunch miserably under torn black cloaks and make their way slowly across the grounds toward the pavilion on the outskirts of the Quidditch pitch.

Juniper unlocks the door to the changing rooms with her wand. It's the only place they can think of where they might clean themselves up without risk of meeting anyone. The morning has crept up on them unawares, and it's now nearly time for breakfast; far too late to make it to the common room without someone seeing. Felix drops onto the nearest wooden bench, eyes squeezed shut against the throbbing in his arm, and Juniper collapses beside him. It is several silent, exhausted minutes before either are able to rouse themselves enough to inspect their battle wounds.

Juniper's cloak is ripped from neckline to hem. There's a long thin scratch along her cheek leaking droplets of blood. Both knees of her trousers are sporting large holes, the skin underneath scuffed and raw, and the massive bruise now blossoming across her abdomen is the kind that will hurt much worse the next day. Felix mumbles the spell to sew up her clothes, but it's not flawless and a long uneven line of stitching now decorates her cloak. Juniper succeeds in healing her own minor injuries using episkey, but the bruise on her side remains firmly blue and black and not even Felix can make a dent in the mottled color. He supposes being inflicted by a dragon's tail, this is a wound that can't simply be magicked away.

Which doesn't bode well for his arm.

While Felix has fared better than Juniper in other ways (the tears in his cloak and jumper small and his face covered more in grime than actual hurt), the bite on his arm is wicked-looking and swollen. Once he clears away most of the blood, he can see the wound itself is a nasty green color. It isn't large, about the size of a sickle, but it hurts like fire, and upon closer inspection has something lodged within it.

"_That _needs the hospital wing," Juniper pronounces as she leans over to get a better look.

Felix shakes his head. "No way to explain this without saying what did it. Anyway, there's a book that details how to make a salve for dragon bites. I can probably make it myself if I can just..." He pokes at the wound tenderly in an attempt to identify the intrusion. "...Get whatever this is out." He sucks in a breath of pain as his fingers accidentally push the splinter deeper.

"Here, let me see." Juniper turns to sit cross-legged on the bench facing him and tugs Felix's injured arm into her lap. It hurts too badly for him to protest much, and he makes only a token attempt to jerk his arm away. Juniper's grip holds fast. She pulls the skin around the bite taut, inspecting it clinically.

"Ouch!" Felix hisses.

"You know, it would hurt less if you were still," Juniper comments mildly.

Felix lets out a noise of mirthless laughter, "You sound like Madam Pomfrey."

Juniper looks up with a slight grin. "That's what _she _says. I never know if it's a compliment or not." Her tone is conversational, exactly like someone who _hasn't_ fought for their life against a ferocious dragon just a few hours before.

"And how often do you have occasion to speak to Madam Pomfrey?" Felix asks through gritted teeth, as she prods at the splinter delicately.

"I help out in the hospital wing sometimes. That's where I leaned episkey in the first place* - Sorry!" Juniper looks up with a sympathetic wince as he hisses in pain again. "I know there's a spell for pulling things out of wounds, I just don't know it yet. You're sure you don't want to go to the hospital wing?"

"Have you got a way of explaining this that won't get us both expelled?" Felix snaps, pain making his tone acidic. He runs his hand over his hair, smoothing it flat unconsciously, and takes a breath through his nose. "You'll do fine, just pull it out quickly."

"I'm trying, I just can't get a good grip on it," Juniper answers defensively, turning her attention back to his arm.

"What are you doing helping out in the hospital wing?" Felix asks in an effort to take his mind off the distinctly unpleasant stabbing sensation. "That the entrance to a new cursed vault, is it? Or are you hiding some other dangerous creature in there?"

"Ha ha ha," Juniper replies, rolling her eyes. Her hand stills for a moment as she answers. "I want to be a healer. If I ever make it out of this place. Madam Pomfrey allows me to shadow her occasionally. When I have time."

This unexpected bit of information succeeds in distracting him.

"A healer?" Felix asks, astonished.

"Yep," Juniper brings her face so close to his arm Felix could feel her breath if he weren't so preoccupied with this new revelation.

"A _healer_?" He repeats the word incredulously.

"Yes!" Juniper reiterates with emphasis, gripping his arm rather more tightly than he thinks is strictly necessary as she reaches into his open wound once more.

Felix grimaces. "I thought...ow!...you wanted to be a curse breaker?"

"Why does everyone always think that?" she mumbles, thoroughly focused on the task at hand.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you spend half your time at school breaking into cursed vaults? OUCH!" Felix ends with a strangled shout as Juniper exclaims in triumph. She looks up at him, smiling proudly and holding what looks like a minuscule tooth between her thumb and index finger.

"Got it!" she says brightly, then allows her smile to drop and an exasperated look to cross her face. "And for the hundredth time, that's to find my brother! Not because I have any particular love for curse breaking."

Since Juniper has never told Felix this even once before, let alone a hundred times, he assumes this must be a question she gets often. He's glad her profession-of-choice seems as strange to other people as it does to him.

Juniper sets the tiny tooth carefully onto the bench between them, then inspects Felix's arm again. "I know you're supposed to use a wound cleaning potion on it now to prevent infection, but I don't know how to brew one."

"I can do it," Felix assures her. "You'll learn it in your sixth year."

"Guess they don't expect us to go dragon fighting till later in our school careers," Juniper jokes, relinquishing his arm.

But Felix doesn't smile. Her comment reminds him of what has to happen next, and he isn't looking forward to it.

"Juniper..." he says warily. She looks up, slightly startled at his use of her first name. "This... situation... with Sparky, it can't- we can't keep doing this. We have... to tell someone," Felix hesitates, searching for the best tactic to secure her agreement without making her defensive, but Juniper uses his short silence to interrupt.

"I know," She sighs. "This might...be a bit beyond my ability."

Felix raises his eyebrows at her in surprise as she continues.

"I guess... training a dragon isn't quite the same as training a Thestral. I...I have treated him a bit like a pet," She glances at Felix before admitting, somewhat sheepishly, "You were right."

Felix regards her steadily, eyebrows still lifted, a smirk playing at his lips.

"What?" Juniper asks, confused.

"Nothing. I've just waited two and half years to hear you say that."

She crosses her arms in mock indignation. "I can admit when I'm wrong!"

His eyebrows climb higher up his forehead.

"I can!" Juniper protests. "It just... doesn't happen all that often."

They both burst into laughter at this, and Felix feels tension ease from his shoulders like a shed cloak. The whole walk back through the forest, Felix had been dreading the moment when they would have to discuss their next move. He'd expected her to argue or at least be angry at him for forcing the issue, and he'd been quietly steeling himself to be the voice of reason. But something about her easy acquiescence makes the whole situation feel less urgent. We still have a little time before Sparky's mature enough to climb out the ditch, he thinks, _Nothing has to happen right away..._

"So, who do we tell?" Juniper asks Felix, massaging her side. It must ache terribly, Felix thinks, if his dragon-inflicted wound is anything to go by.

Felix considers for a moment, developing a plan. "Kettleburn, I think. Less likely to reach Dumbledore that way. If I play it right."

"You?" Juniper asks dubiously.

"Yes, me," Felix replies, meeting her skeptical look evenly. "It will be much less suspicious. If you start asking questions about dragons, there's a good chance he'll assume you have one. With your track record."

Juniper pulls a face at him and crosses her arms. "What, you'll just go up to Kettleburn and say 'Excuse me, sir, but hypothetically if two students were feeding a dragon on school grounds, what would you do?'" Sarcasm drips from her words. "No, no one will be suspicious of that!"

"Of course not," Felix replies with an edge, rubbing the skin just below his injury to ease the discomfort in his arm. "I'll tell him I'm interested in Dragonology as a career and ask if he knows anyone who works with Welsh Greens. I think he mentioned a friend that works with dragons once in class."

"Oh," Juniper sits up straighter, looking surprised. "That's actually a really good idea."

Felix rolls his eyes at her. "My ideas generally are."

"No," she says, now regarding him thoughtfully. "I mean, Dragonology. As a profession. For you," she says rather chaotically, as if she doesn't know how to arrange her thoughts into a coherent sentence. "I mean... I don't know what your plan is once you're done with school, but -"

Felix actually guffaws - a sound so undignified it would have made his mother cry if she heard it.

"I'm serious!" Juniper insists. "It's not every wizard could keep his head the way you did with a dragon coming at them. Not to mention be powerful enough for spells to have any effect on a dragon, at all. I've never read of anyone being able to shrink a dragon before, even for just a short time. You're a natural."

She stands up, her cheeks slightly pink as he continues to chuckle. "Whatever. You should think about it though."

Felix gets to his feet as well, shaking his head, but the feeling of pride that swells through his chest at her words eases the pain in his arm just a little.

* * *

"Dragons! Rea-lly?! " exclaims Professor Kettleburn in his thick brogue, his one visible eye wide with surprise and delight.

Felix stands before him in the staff room, rather more nervously than he expected to be. This isn't the first time he's manipulated a professor, but it has certainly never been for higher stakes. He would really prefer their conversation be finished quickly before another teacher (Snape, for example) walks in.

"Well, you couldn't pick a more fascinating or rewarding career! Love dragons, myself!" Kettleburn settles into this subject like a comfortable arm chair. "I was always rather disappointed Dumbledore wouldn't allow one to be brought in for classes. Very misunderstood creatures, and so much to learn about them! But I suppose they are rather dangerous and all that," He waves his mechanical hand vaguely as if to brush away the alleged danger associated with dragons.

Felix takes advantage of this momentary silence. "Yes sir, of course, I quite agree." He keeps his tone as natural as possible as he recites the lines he has practiced all day. "I was wondering whether you might know anyone working with dragons to whom I could write? To inquire about a job or an internship? Perhaps someone in Wales. I'm particularly interested in studying Common Welsh Greens."

Felix holds his breath, hoping he sounds more casual than he feels.

But Professor Kettleburn shakes his head. "'Fraid not, lad. Had a particular friend up in the Hebrides at one time, but he died a few years back." Kettleburn strokes his chin with his good hand. "Eaten by one of his own dragons, as a matter of fact. Very sad, it was. But probably how he wanted to go."

Felix's heart plummets. He has been so focused on avoiding suspicion, he hasn't considered that his plan might fail for another reason. He swallows, the only visual clue to the disappointment he feels, and tries to disengage from the conversation.

"I see. Well, thank you anyway, I appreciate your time, sir."

Felix takes a step back when Kettleburn says, thoughtfully, "Of course, I do know a chap down at the Romanian Reserve. Largest dragon sanctuary in the world, you know. An excellent place to study."

Felix stops moving.

"This chap I know, met him once at a lecture. Tips for the Safe Keeping of Man-Eating Beasts: fascinating! Where I bought my Chimaera, actually. Have you seen my Chimaera, recently? Growing like a weed!" Kettleburn says like a proud new father.

Felix clears his throat, "Yes, of course. You were saying about your friend that works with dragons?" he prompts, not quite as smooth as he would like.

"Ah yes, dragons! Well, this chap, he specialises in the Peruvian Vipertooth. A difficult dragon, that one. Beautiful color, of course, and its flight is like watching lightning! Most unfortunate it has such a taste for humans," Kettleburn says sadly, shaking his head.

Felix clenches and unclenches his hands inside his robes, the tension setting his nerves on fire.

"Anyhow," continues Kettleburn. "He was complaining at the time about never being able to keep field assistants. They're always running off to work with the non man-eating dragons. Or they're eaten. If you're interested you might write to him for a job! Unless you have your heart set on welsh greens..?. "

"No!" Felix says a little too eagerly. "That's perfect! Or, that is-I would certainly be interested in writing to him for advice. On career options, of course." Felix's renewed excitement causes him to stumble over his words. He tries to calm himself, keeping his casual mask carefully in place. "Would you mind terribly giving me his information?"

"Not at all, not at all! Let me just find a quill." Kettleburn lifts both arms slightly and looks from side to side as if he routinely keeps writing _accoutrement _in his sleeves and expects some to fall out.

"Here, sir, allow me," Felix says swiftly, pulling parchment and quill from his bag and unstopping a bottle of ink. Kettleburn sets the parchment on the back of the staff room sofa and writes a name and address shakily.

"There you are!" Kettleburn pronounces, handing Felix back the parchment and quill.

Felix has to work very hard to keep a triumphant smile from his face as he takes them.

"I'll send off a note to him myself, let him know to expect your letter and that you come highly recommended." Kettleburn winks conspiratorially, or at least that's how Felix interprets the slow blinking of his one eye as he looks up at the tall professor in alarm.

"Oh, that's not necessary, sir. I mean-" Felix thinks quickly. "I'd much prefer to do it myself. Get in on my merit, you know."

Kettleburn raises an eyebrow. "Rea-lly?" he says, sounding both confused and impressed, as if this were a strange position for a Slytherin to take.

Felix smiles charmingly as he takes a step back.

"Well," says Kettleburn slowly, "Do let me know if you need anymore assistance. I must say, I think it's an excellent career path for you!"

Felix is inching toward the door as Kettleburn declares this, but he freezes at the words. He wants to stop and ask Kettleburn exactly why he thinks such a thing. But at that moment, the door opens and Professor McGonagall enters. Felix wishes them both a hasty farewell and steps out of the room before Kettleburn can say anything more.

* * *

Sparky has not forgiven them the next time they visit him in the forest. Juniper and Felix take turns gently tossing animals to him, safely at the top of the ledge, but the dragon lets the rabbits fall to the ground and refuses to pick them up. He glares mutinously before turning his back on them, marching to the opposite end of his makeshift prison, and clawing at the earth wall where Felix's staircase had been.

After calling to the dragon for a while, Juniper suggests cautiously that they attempt the descent into the valley, but Felix refuses point blank. Sparky chooses this moment to begin thwacking his tail against the wall, as if to collapse it, and the two slytherins leave shortly thereafter.

Their second visit fares much the same. Sparky still refuses to take food from them directly, but they notice all the animals dropped into the ditch on their last visit have gone. They hang around uncomfortably for an hour, before heading back to the castle.

"Felix?" Juniper asks as they walk, pronouncing his name like a question. She's been using his first name more and more when they're alone and Felix finds he rather likes it.

He "hmms?" in response.

"What _are _you going to do once you leave school?"

Immediately, Felix's stomach begins writhing, as it does whenever he is forced to think about his impending graduation. If it were anyone else asking, Felix would tell them to mind their own damn business. But it's her, and they've been through rather a lot together recently, so he says heavily. "I don't know exactly."

"Really?" Juniper sounds surprised. She sees him grimace and backtracks quickly. "I mean, you just seem like the kind of person who would have that planned out."

"Yes, well in this case it's sort of planned out for me," Felix says, surprising himself. He has never talked about this with anyone before.

"What do you mean?"

The words seem to come out of Felix's mouth of their own volition. "My father will make arrangements for me to work in a Ministry of Magic department. Wherever he thinks would be of best advantage to the family."

"Oh," Juniper replies, unable to disguise the slight distaste in her voice. "That sounds..."

"Dull?" Felix finishes for her.

"No!" Juniper says quickly before catching sight of his skeptically raised eyebrow in the wand-light. "Well, I mean...maybe. I guess it sounds..." she searches for a word. "Safe. You won't have to worry much about being chased by angry dragons." She attempts this as a joke but neither of them laugh.

They're silent for a few steps before she asks, "Is that what _you _want to do?"

His father's voice supplies the proper response in his head, almost immediately.

"There are more important things than always doing what you want," Felix recites. "It's my responsibility. To my family." He tries to say this with pride but it comes out rather stiff. "You wouldn't understand," he adds haughtily, hoping to put an end to the discussion.

Juniper turns to look at him, face inscrutable. "Actually," she says coolly. "I can understand that quite well. Since everything I do is for my family."

Felix feels a violent urge to disagree with her, to insist that their situations are nothing alike. But he bites back the words. He doesn't want to talk about himself anymore. So he turns the tables on her.

"Why do you want to be a healer?" Felix asks and takes a small satisfaction in her sudden discomfort.

"Ugh, don't start that again please."

"You have to admit, it's an odd choice of profession for you."

"Why?" Juniper demands fiercely and Felix is a little shocked at her vehemence. "Seriously, tell me what it is about me that makes me so unsuited to be a healer."

"I didn't say you were unsuited to being a healer." Felix thinks through his words carefully. "You just seem_ better _suited to a more...high intensity sort of profession."

"What does that even mean?!" Juniper's voice is rising now. Felix lowers his in an attempt to diffuse her anger.

"Look, it's not an insult! You're a powerful witch, and resourceful. Excellent under pressure. And you've no end of nerve, maybe too much. All that, just to be a healer? It seems like a waste of talent."

Felix has to turn to look at her because Juniper has stopped in her tracks. She lowers her wand so there isn't enough light to make out her expression, and Felix is sure he's made her furious until he hears the smile in her voice.

"That is the nicest thing you have ever said to me."

His cheeks redden with embarrassment. "It's not _nice,_ it's just accurate."

Felix starts to walk again, more quickly than before. He can hear Juniper following behind him. She doesn't speak again until they've left the forest and can see the castle ahead.

"You know the same is rather true of you."

Felix looks at her quizzically.

"I mean, I'm sure you'd be good at anything you wanted to do, but... you would really be wasted in an office."

* * *

Felix lies awake that night with Juniper's words running through his head. _Everything I do is for my family. _He thinks about the implications of this. Her brother, her refusal to stop searching for the vaults: he's never thought of it as being in the same category as his own family obligations.

_Perhaps it is,_ Felix thinks, _but it isn't a duty that really belongs to her. It should have been her parents responsibility_. Then he wonders if having a high-ranking ministry job and restoring his family name to a place of honor are really his responsibilities. Or something his father should have done instead of being a Death Eater.

Is being what my father wasn't really a responsibility that belongs to me? Felix has never questioned this before. Never been entirely happy with it, perhaps, but he's never doubted that it was what he would do. What he was_ supposed_ to do. But now...

These uncomfortable thoughts open a door in Felix's mind to a thousand unconsidered possibilities. What if he _didn't_ simply follow the path his parents had picked for him? What if he forged his own path instead, made a name for _himself_ instead of upholding theirs? It makes his head spin.

Felix closes his eyes tightly and tries to clear his brain, to find sleep, but he cannot stop imagining himself in new and alluring scenarios. _Felix Rosier, Dragonologist. World's leading expert in the Common Welsh Green, only know person to have tamed successfully tamed one._ Fantastic headlines race through his mind as he dozes, and his last conscious thought is Juniper saying, _You're a natural..._

* * *

*This is in reference to a side quest that used to be available where MC could help Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing and earn Episkey as a dueling spell. This questline was removed at one point by Jam City for "tweaking". I'm not sure if they've brought it back yet.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **I would like to apologise in advance for posting such a depressing Christmas chapter. To make up for it, I have also posted a very fluffy little Christmas story starring MC and Merula Snyde, with an epilogue that features Felix and ties in with this story (chronologically, it takes place toward the beginning of this chapter). So if you're choking on angst by the end of this, please go cheer yourself up.  
I'd also like to warn that this chapter makes references to child neglect and unhappy home life in general, in case those are triggers for anyone.

* * *

_Summary:_  
_"I think you need to consider that your parents might not have your best interests at heart. Parents are just people too. They make mistakes and they can do the wrong thing."_  
_"How would you know? You barely have parents."_  
_"That's exactly how I know."_

* * *

Felix Rosier is a little taken aback to discover how beautiful Hogwarts is at Christmas time. It's not as if the castle is ever dank or gloomy, but now its halls are practically alive with good cheer. Holly, ivy, and greenery of every kind are wound around banisters and hung on doors. Fantastically decorated Christmas trees are stuffed into all the empty corners. Even the Slytherin common room, infamous for being somber and gloomy, seems transported by the softly glowing garlands and the cozy stockings hung by the fire.

Felix takes in the sight for the first time as he walks through the entrance wall after ensuring all the students from his house returning home for the holidays have made it safely to the train. While Felix has never stayed before, Slytherin house usually sees the largest number of students at school over the Christmas year's slew of boggart attacks, however, has frightened nearly all the winter regulars into seeking shelter elsewhere. Even Merula Snyde has gone with her new best friends, Ismelda Murk and Barnaby Lee, to Ismelda's house, leaving Juniper Windsong the only Slytherin student to remain. Besides Felix himself.

"What are _you _doing here?" Juniper asks in shock, jumping up from her spot in front of the fire as Felix enters. Her rapid movement disturbs the loose pile of papers and parchments she's been pouring over. She's still holding a quill loosely in one hand, and has the air of someone who has been interrupted in the middle of doing something they shouldn't.

Felix narrows his eyes at her. "You mean, in my own common room?"

"No, I mean here. At school. At all. You never stay for the holidays."

Felix leans casually on the back of the sofa, surreptitiously eyeing the bits of parchment littering the floor.

"You've been here two and half years, Windsong. That hardly makes you an authority on what I _never do_."

Juniper shoots him her lopsided smile. "Okay," she concedes, "I mean, I've never seen you stay over the holidays before."

"Of course not. I never stay over the holidays," Felix deadpans as he walks around the arm of the sofa to sit down.

Juniper throws her quill at him.

"Careful," Felix warns her, smirking, "I can still dock points, even at Christmas."

She ignores him and resumes her seat on the floor in front of her parchment and papers, hiding them from view. Felix wonders if this is deliberate.

"So why are you staying this year?" Juniper asks, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"Well," Felix draws the word out a bit, debating how to answer. "The dragon, of course. I don't like the idea of you visiting him alone. It's too dangerous."

Juniper lowers her eyebrows at him, suspiciously. "Really?"

"You've seen the way he looks at us now," Felix says, leaning slightly onto the arm of the sofa to try to see around her without tipping her off. "And on your own, you're just reckless enough to go back down in there with him."

"No, I mean, is that really the reason you're staying?" Juniper clarifies.

Felix ceases his attempt to spy and meets her eyes. He's a little taken aback; he thought his story was quite believable and his delivery flawless. But Juniper can be very discerning sometimes, and, he supposes, she knows him too well by now.

"It's_ a_ reason," Felix answers.

Juniper holds his gaze a second longer, then turns around to gather up her things.

"Well," she announces, in her best impression of a plummy prefect voice. "I _do _hope you'll try to keep your noise to a minimum. I plan to use this time to get a good deal of revision done."

Felix throws back his head and laughs.

* * *

Felix doesn't discover what Juniper is working on in secret and he doesn't ask. He has a pretty good idea that it involves the new cursed vault and, while unhappy with her decision to continue investigating in spite of Dumbledore's express warning, Felix has decided to avoid the subject unless absolutely necessary. He has enough problems to deal with at the moment. His post-Hogwarts future, his upcoming NEWTS, and Sparky's undecided fate are all vying for top billing in the anxiety showcase his brain puts on for him every night before he falls asleep. It's the real reason he's chosen not to return home for the holiday. He can't bear the thought of being forced to rehash these topics with his parents every day after running them through his head all night.

Instead, Felix makes it a point to hold Juniper to her off-hand joke made at the start of break. In an effort to keep her out of trouble, he frogmarches her to the library whenever he can find her or demands she remain in the common room: to revise, or help him revise. Juniper puts up a reasonable amount of grumbling at this academic peer-pressure, but turns out to be a surprisingly effective revision partner; mostly due to her habit of asking a million questions. She does this on purpose, Felix is sure, in an attempt to annoy him into letting her escape, but it actually helps him understand and remember the material better. Felix, used to working on his own, enjoys this method of revision more than he thought he would. When he's talking with her, he finds his anxieties intrude upon his thoughts much less.

Their schoolwork is nearly always done in the evenings, however, as Juniper now insists on visiting Sparky first thing in the morning. Felix is confused by this, and by her strange new habit of walking slowly and with great ceremony back to the common room immediately after dinner. It isn't until he accompanies her one day and sees Mrs. Norris tailing them closely that he understands the reason for her newfound scrupulousness.

"With everyone else gone, Filch doesn't have anything to obsess over except me," Juniper explains to Felix as they reach the privacy of the common room. "I can get away in the mornings when he's doing actual work, but once that's done he pretty much just follows me around all day."

Juniper takes a seat at the circular study table in the back of the common room where they've left their books and notes from their revision session the previous evening.

"He's convinced I only stay over breaks to search for the vaults. Which," she admits slyly,"isn't entirely wrong."

This reminds Felix of something that's been nagging at him for nearly the whole term. He takes the seat next to hers and pulls a book toward him but doesn't open it. He debates whether they're close enough for him to attempt such a personal question. True, Felix has spent more time with her this term than any other single person, but their scattered attempts to discuss anything not dragon related have always been rather tense.

In the end, curiousity gets the better of him.

"Juniper?" Felix asks tentatively.

She looks up, a little startled at his use of her given name.

"When you were explaining about the dragon - that very first night in the common room - you said, you found it over the summer?"

Juniper inclines her head, slowly, eyes slightly wary.

Felix plunges on. "What were you doing here? Students aren't usually allowed to stay for the summer holiday."

He expects her to be evasive, or defensive, or to try to brush the subject away with a joke. He does not expect her eyes to go wide and her face to suddenly flush brick red.

"What?" Felix asks, astonished. He can't imagine what the answer must be to embarrass her so thoroughly. "Did you camp out in the forest or something?"

"No, Juniper mumbles, looking down at the table. "I - I got special permission from Dumbledore to stay at school the last month before term started."

Juniper fumbles for a quill and parchment as if to begin taking notes, but she has no ink near her and no book open. She simply stares at the parchment, quill in hand, as if she's forgotten how to write.

"Why?" Felix asks. Part of him feels like a prat for pressing the issue, as it's obvious she wants the conversation to be over. But he's fascinated by how visibly uncomfortable she is, when she's famous for being composed in even the most dangerous situations. And it incites his curiousity to riot, wondering what could possibly make her this unsettled.

Juniper doesn't answer him right away. She worries the quill between her fingers, then taps the feather against the parchment distractedly. Her head is bent so low over the table that her hair falls in front of her face, hiding much of it from view. So when she does respond, her words are slightly muffled.

"I got into a spot of bother with...muggle law enforcement."

"What?" Felix says, nonplussed.

Juniper rubs her forehead with the hand not fumbling with the quill.

"My father..." she begins haltingly, "he's an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries. He's always working. I mean, he was always gone a lot even before...everything with Jacob. But this summer... " she rubs at her cheek now, "this summer he didn't come home at all. Probably he just...lost track of time - he does that a lot. Didn't realize it was summer holidays. I tried sending him owls but.. he doesn't always have time to read them."

Juniper twines a bit of her hair round and round her finger, still looking at the table. "Anyway... I was out of food and, well, money. I mean - I know we have some but it's in Gringotts and I didn't have any way to get there." She drops the quill and taps her fingers in an unconscious rhythm against the parchment. "So...I ended up... getting caught trying to nick some food from the grocer's in town." She says this last all in a rush, now looking away toward the window where the water from the black lake swirls against the glass.

Felix has rarely had occasion to use the word "flabbergasted" to describe himself, but as he sits back in his chair, mouth slightly open, he decides that's definitely what he feels now. His brain tries to itemize all the elements of this story that require follow-up questions but discovers there isn't any bit which doesn't. He isn't even sure where to start. He focuses on the end of this surreal confession.

"You got caught? Why didn't you just use magic!"

"What, and be expelled?" Juniper asks, finally looking at him, her face incredulous. As though he were the one not making any sense.

Felix can't develop a decent argument to this as most of his brain is occupied in processing the other parts of her story, so he moves on.

"But why didn't you just send an owl to Khanna or one of your other friends? Surely they would have helped you?"

Juniper shrugs, looking back at the window and twisting at her hair again. "Rowan was abroad with her family, I wasn't going to worry her. And I didn't want to bother Penny or Bill. I... I don't really know them well enough for that and I don't know their families at all and..."she sighs, dropping her hands. "It's embarrassing."

Felix wants to argue that this is ridiculous. But as he opens his mouth, he's struck by the question of what he would do in a similar situation. It takes him only a few seconds of quick imagining to come to the conclusion that nothing less than physical torture could get him to admit it to anyone. Felix spends a good deal of time and energy ensuring that he never appears anything but entirely capable and confident, and he knows Juniper is probably similar. They are both in Slytherin, after all, where image is everything. He supposes he can't fault her for not wanting her friends to know about her less than satisfactory home life.

"Anyway, it all worked out," Juniper says, trying to infuse her voice with some of her usual good humour. "I was able to get in touch with the school. And Snape actually had to come and rescue me from gaol since he's my head of house which was kind of hilarious. And then he and Dumbledore arranged for me to stay here for the rest of the summer as long as I promised to work out someone to stay with next summer so this doesn't happen again." She takes a deep, steadying breath as her story comes to its conclusion, then glances around the table as if looking for what to do next. She reaches for a bottle of ink and the nearest textbook, and begins copying words down quickly.

Felix sits numbly, watching her write without really seeing. Memories of his own summer flick through his mind like a picture book: reluctantly attending stupid social events, bored stiff; hiding up in his room to avoid his parents with their incessant lectures and pointed remarks; wandering the grounds, the library, the conservatory, brooding miserably and generally feeling sorry for himself. Felix wishes he knew exactly where he had been and what he had been doing when the girl across from him, who tamed dragons and thestrals, and fought ice knights and werewolves, had become desperate and hungry enough to venture out of her lonely house to steal food from muggles.

He has a mad urge to put his arm around Juniper, to comfort her somehow. Not that she appears to need it or want it. She seems embarrassed, but not sad or bitter. He wonders how much of her brave face is an act and how much really just rolls off her shoulders.

Felix clears his throat. "You know...if you ever...I mean-" He pauses and puts the words together in his head before continuing. "If it happens again, you can always write me. I won't tell anyone, I promise, and I'll make sure you don't have to resort to petty theft."

Juniper lets out a snort of laughter and rolls her eyes. "You know, you can't lose house points over the summer. Slytherin's reputation was just fine."

"It's not about Slytherin,." Felix says and his voice is earnest enough to stifle her affected humour. "It's just... you're thirteen. You shouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing."

Juniper gives him a little half-smile. "Thanks... " she says awkwardly, "but it's really ok. It's hardly the worst thing to ever happen to me. And like I said, it all worked out for the best. I wouldn't have found Sparky if I hadn't been here."

Juniper returns to copying notes, but Felix doubts she's taking in anything she's writing

"And," she adds as an afterthought, not looking up. "I'm fourteen. My birthday's at the start of break."

Felix isn't sure what to say. He pulls his own book toward him and tries hard to focus on the lines of text, but he knows he won't remember anything but her words the following day.

* * *

The two Slytherins visit Sparky nearly every morning now they have no classes, but have yet to venture back down into the valley to touch the dragon. Felix thinks Sparky _might_ look a bit less furious with them, though. He has started catching the food they throw to him again, at least. But it's becoming increasingly obvious that rabbits will not sate the growing dragon much longer.

"He really needs bigger game," Felix notes. "If we don't hear back from Kettleburn's friend soon, we're going to have to find something else to feed him."

"How long has it been since you wrote him?" Juniper asks, sitting perched on the ledge, legs swinging back and forth restlessly.

"Nearly a month," Felix admits, "But it's not like sending a letter to London. It's bound to take some time."

"Still," Juniper says, her voice strangely brusque, "it's been long enough that we ought to have heard something by now. What exactly did you say?"

"I've told you already," Felix sighs. He sits down next to her, allowing his legs to drape over the side of the ledge as well. "I said there was an injured common welsh green dragon near Hogwarts and would the reserve be interested in taking it."

Juniper makes a clicking noise of frustration. "Yes, you said that bit. But I mean, what _exactly _did you write? From beginning to end."

Felix raises his eyebrows. "Even if I could remember that, why would it matter?"

"We need to figure out if you might have said something that offended him or that would keep him from writing back right away," Juniper explains curtly. "Did you include a CV or something that he might be checking?"

Felix looks at her blankly. "What are you talking about?"

"You told Kettleburn you were looking for a job for after school! That was the whole premise of the letter."

"Yes, but it was just a cover! I didn't actually ask him for a job!"

Seriously?" she exclaims, turning to look at him in astonishment.

"Of course not! I'm not actually interested in dragonology."

Juniper laughs mirthlessly, "Oh right. You're just doing this for the house points, I forgot."

Felix bites back a barbed retort. Ever since their conversation in the common room a few days ago, Felix has felt the need to be kinder and more careful around Juniper than he typically is with anyone. For some reason, this new gentler attitude seems to have inspired a reverse effect in Juniper. He's noticed her tone with him has become increasingly caustic and her comments rather more antagonistic than is her want.

Felix makes the effort to keep his voice even as he answers, "I mean, it isn't a career option for me."

"Why not?"

"My parents would never agree to it," He explains patiently.

"Have you asked?" Juniper demands

Felix smooths his hair down distractedly, trying to quell his growing annoyance. "I don't have to. They want me in a prestigious, powerful position. Dragonologist does not meet those qualifications in any way."

Juniper doesn't say anything for a minute, just crosses her arms and kicks petulantly at the earthen wall.

Felix lets out a breath, grateful the topic seems to be exhausted. He watches Sparky watching them, the dragon's long tail flicking back and forth in anticipation. He's about to make another comment on Sparky's need for more substantial meals, when Juniper speaks again, her voice aggressive.

"So what?"

"So...what?" Felix asks, not following.

"So what if that's not what _they_ want for you. Do it anyway. It's clearly what you want, and you're a legal adult. It's not like they can stop you."

Felix is a little taken aback, by her return to this uncomfortable subject and by her cantankerous tone. He shakes his head slightly. "That's not-"

"Aren't you the one who's always on me about not wasting my talent and focusing on my future and not letting my brother ruin things for me?" Juniper interrupts, speaking rapidly

"That's not the same thing," Felix responds, now unable to keep an edge from his own voice.

"Yes it is," she argues belligerently. "You're just blindly following your parents footsteps, like you say I follow my brother's and not considering what's best for you at all."

Felix is too irritated to be gentle with her anymore. "My parents know what's best for me!" he argues.

"Really?" Juniper's tone cuts like a knife. "Your father was a Death Eater, Felix. I don't think I'd consider him an expert on what's best for anybody."

She's gone too far, and she knows it.

Felix watches Juniper's eyes widen as her own words hit her and she covers her mouth with her hand automatically. But he doesn't care. Felix's veins fill with ice and he enters that cold, calculating head-space he goes to when he's absolutely furious. He stares at her, expressionless, unsure if he wants to jinx her or just push her over the ledge into the ditch below.

Juniper can't seem to meet Felix's eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry," Her voice is more equable than it's been all day, but it has no effect on Felix's mood. "What you do with your life... and your family situation, it - it isn't any of my business. Except, that you're my friend and I care about you."

Juniper says this matter-of-factly, and at a different time it might have meant something to Felix to hear it, but he can't feel anything now.

"I just think you need to consider that your parents...they might not have your best interests at heart. Parents are just people too, and they're not infallible. They might have more experience, but they make mistakes and they can do the wrong thing, just like anyone."

"How would you know?" Felix asks cruelly, "You barely have parents."

He knows distantly that he should feel bad at the injured look that crosses her face, but he doesn't.

"That's exactly how I know,"Juniper answers simply.

It takes all the self-control Felix has to leave their exchange there. He can think of a few more harsh things he'd like to say to her, and wonders heartlessly if he could make her cry. That's something he'd like to see just at present. Instead, Felix stands, drawing himself up to his full height, and adopts his most imperious and disdainful expression.

"Well, you're right about one thing," he announces as he turns his back on her haughtily. "It isn't any of your business."

With that, Felix stalks away leaving Juniper alone with the dragon.

* * *

Felix and Juniper spend the next few days studiously avoiding one another; no easy feat as they're currently the only two students in their house. The day after their fight, Juniper speaks to Felix just long enough to recuse herself from feeding Sparky, claiming she has business in Hogsmeade. This is fine with Felix as he feels entirely undisposed to talk to her at the present.

That morning, he visits Sparky on his own for the very first time. Felix expects to feel confident and pleased with himself to finally be on his own with the dragon. But the forest seems rather too quiet. And Sparky keeps attempting to crane his neck over the top of the valley's wall and giving little musical calls. So, Felix doesn't stay long.

Once his fury burns out, Felix feels a little abashed at having allowed a third-year to bait him into a such a ridiculous argument in the first place. As he thinks back over the incident, it's clear to Felix that Juniper was out of sorts from the beginning, and probably _trying_ to pick a fight. And it's not as though he hasn't had his father's Death Eater status thrown in his face many times before, often accompanied by a hex or a curse.

But something about what Juniper said continues to bother Felix. It would be easier to pretend the whole thing never happened if he were entirely convinced her arguments had no merit. But the more he runs her angry words through his head, the more he worries that she may not have been wrong.

It's Christmas Eve before they speak to each other again. Felix has been visiting Sparky in the evenings now that he's there alone. For whatever reason, when left to his own devices, he prefers to do his rule-breaking under cover of darkness.

As he enters the common room, Felix sees Juniper sitting in her favorite spot on the sofa facing the fire, looking subdued. It takes her a minute to notice his presence, and she attempts to pull her face together into her signature grin but it doesn't meet her eyes.

Felix takes the seat on the sofa opposite her. They sit in silence for a long while, not looking at each other.

Finally, Juniper asks, "How's Sparky?"

"A bit bigger. And hungrier," Felix says. After a moment he adds, "I think he misses you."

Juniper lets out a breathy, bitter laugh that doesn't sound like her at all. "I'm sure he doesn't."

Felix has the distinct impression that it isn't Sparky she's thinking about as she says this.

Uncomfortable silence resumes. Felix watches the fire crackle merrily, and little by little, he feels it melt away his remaining frostiness toward Juniper. He's become accustomed to her presence over the last few months, and he has to admit he's grown fond of her, annoying questions and unfortunate rule-breaking habits and all. But Felix has never been close enough to anyone to need to make-up after a fight, and he doesn't know how to go about it.

"Do you wish you were home?" Juniper asks suddenly. "For Christmas, I mean."

Felix thinks this over, relieved to have a semi-neutral subject to talk about. "No, not really. Holidays aren't a particularly grand affair in my family."

Juniper tries to raise her eyebrows. "Is that, like, a posh way of saying you don't celebrate Christmas?"

Her voice is teasing, but good-natured, and Felix tries to smile.

"No, we celebrate. The house elves decorate and there's gifts and Christmas dinner and all, but... it's not... very merry, I guess."

Felix doesn't know how to convey the difference between his family's stiff, traditional holiday that feels more like obligation than indulgence, and the cozy comfort of the Hogwarts Christmas he's experienced for the first time. But Juniper nods as though she somehow understands what he means.

"Does your family-" Felix starts to return the question, then remembers everything he knows about her family and stops awkwardly.

To his surprise, Juniper answers anyway. "We used to. Christmas was always my favorite time of the year. It was the only time we were all together. My parents would be home, because Jacob was home." She smiles, a little wistfully. "And they always had this huge Christmas party, and the house would be beautiful, and everyone was happy and... there." Her voice breaks just a little on the last word.

"Felix," Juniper raises her head to look full at him. Her voice quavers and her eyes are over-bright. "I'm so sorry... about what I said. About your parents. I mean-" She takes a steadying breath and continues, her voice stronger. "Your parents clearly care about you enough to want you to have things like safety and security. And you're right, maybe I just... can't understand that because my own parents...didn't care enough about me to even stick around after Jacob..." She trails away, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Anyway, I'm just...sorry. Please forget what I said."

Felix just nods. He can't say anything.

A memory is resurfacing of a time long ago when he contracted Dragon Pox. When he'd first been informed of the diagnosis, six year old Felix had been excited, the word dragon having only positive associations in his mind. But a few days later, he feels like he's on fire. His skin itches mercilessly, and terrifies him by peeling off in huge, scaly pieces like a snake. It's the last time he can remember vividly crying for his mother, desperately desiring to be held and comforted. But she never comes. It's a house elf that cares for him through the next fortnight. His mother tells him later that his father wouldn't permit it, didn't want to risk spreading the illness. A rational response, seventeen year old Felix understands. But he cannot forget that horrible feeling of utter loneliness that plagued him worse than the pox itself.

Felix hears the distant tolling of the clock tower chiming the hour and realizes it's midnight. Which means it's Christmas Day. He turns to Juniper to wish her a Happy Christmas and finds she's fallen asleep, curled on her side, her head resting against the arm of the sofa.

Felix stands up and walks quietly around to where she's sleeping. He takes a blanket from the back of the sofa and drapes it across her, then tiptoes up the stairs to his own dormitory. It's colder here than it was in the common room, the fire in the grate burned down almost to embers. He pulls his Slytherin jumper over his pyjamas before climbing into bed and tugging the blanket up all the way to his chin.

All the thoughts Felix does not want to think are waiting for him as soon as he closes his eyes. He knows now, on a level deeper than the rational, that his parents don't care about him. At least, not the way parents should. They care about him the same way they care about the family manor and the garden, or their dress robes and jewels: as a status symbol, to be kept well and used to impress the people around them. Would his mother comfort her emerald necklace if it was alone, sick, and scared? Would his father ask their prize hippogryph what it's interested in or passionate about, or what it might like to accomplish in the future?

_Of course not_, thinks Felix sickly, _and there's no reason to treat me any differently. I'm a possession, not a person._

Felix sits up, swings his legs over the side of his bed and fumbles for his carpet slippers. He pads back down the stairs to the common room and finds Juniper exactly where he left her. Careful not to wake her, he slides on to the opposite end of the sofa where she's sleeping, tucking his legs up under the blanket. He can just feel her stockinged feet brush against him. The contact is fleeting, buts it's enough to ease a little of the loneliness that throbs through his whole body like a dragon bite.


	8. Chapter 8

_Summary: "Well, in all my years of teaching I've never heard the like. Two students raising a dragon on their own, sustaining no injuries and keeping it secret for so long. Might have to submit your names as keynote speakers for the next Man-Eating Creatures conference!"_

* * *

"Well, that's unfortunate," says Juniper glumly, staring down into an empty barrel.

This particular barrel is usually full of the magically preserved corpses of small animals used to feed Professor Kettleburn's carnivorous creatures, and, for the last few months, Juniper and Felix's illicit dragon; a dragon that is now eating a half tonne of rabbits every few days and growing increasingly dissatisfied with this meagre offering.

Felix crosses the Care of Magical Creatures paddock to peer into the barrel behind Juniper. "It was nearly empty the last time I was here," he admits. "I just assumed Kettleburn would refill it."

Juniper shakes her head. "How inconsiderate of him! Doesn't he know how much Sparky eats?" she says in mock outrage, but Felix is too concerned to be amused.

"No, and if we want to keep it that way we have to find an alternative. He really needs bigger game, in any case." Felix begins inspecting the other barrels and bags strewn haphazardly throughout the paddock, but none look large enough to be secreting anything that might tempt a hungry dragon.

"Hmm." Juniper hums thoughtfully, resealing the barrel and perching herself on top of it. "What do you think Kettleburn feeds his Chimaera?"

Felix shoots her a suspicious glance. "How do you know Kettleburn has a Chimaera? He doesn't show it to third years."

Juniper rolls her eyes. "_Everyone _knows about the Chimaera. It spends more time running loose on the grounds than it does in class."

This is too true to be argued with. Felix pauses in his search and tries to remember his lesson from two years previous.

"I think he feeds it steaks of some kind," he muses. "I don't know what sort of animal they're from, though."

Juniper hops off her barrel excitedly. "Well, they had to come from something, right? And Kettleburn has to keep them somewhere, doesn't he?" She begins re-opening the same barrels Felix has just searched through.

"You think I accidentally missed a great bloody pile of steaks hiding in there?" huffs Felix in mild irritation. "Anyway, it makes more sense for Kettleburn to keep the Chimaera's food near where he keeps the Chimaera itself. Just in case. Like we do with Sparky."

Juniper stops rifling through a pile of feed sacks and straightens up.

"Good point. Where does he keep it?" She cocks her head, thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, where does he keep _any_ of the animals we work with in class? In the forest?"

Both Juniper and Felix turn in the direction of the trees automatically.

"I wouldn't think they could all just live in the forest together," Felix muses. "There must be a stable or building of some sort where he keeps them."

"Have you ever seen anything like that?" asks Juniper.

"No," Felix admits. "But I don't spend as much time as you wandering around in places I'm not supposed to be."

Juniper pulls a face at him. "Okay, well _I've_ never seen anything like that either. And I've done quite a bit of exploring." She spins around to scrutinize the landscape in the direction of the castle and the open space of the Hogwarts grounds.

Felix sighs and leans against a post supporting the paddock. "We may have to ask Kettleburn himself."

Juniper swivels her head toward him and makes that ridiculous attempt to raise an eyebrow. "And how do we explain that?"

"Simple," Felix says. "Ask him if we can see his chimaera."

She stares blankly. "That's it? Seriously?"

"Seriously," says Felix with an immodest little smile. He does enjoy being one step ahead of her. "Kettleburn loves that monstrosity. He's always talking about it to anyone who will listen. I don't think it'll be hard to convince him we think it's just as fascinating and want to take a look."

"_We?_" Juniper shifts so her whole body faces Felix now. "You'll let me help this time? You don't think my _unsavory_ reputation will ruin your story's credibility?"

Felix ignores her light gibe. "I think we'll _need_ both of us." Juniper opens her mouth but he explains before she can ask. "One of us will need to keep Kettleburn distracted so the other can steal the food. Or at least locate it so we can come back for it later."

Juniper crosses her arms and regards Felix appraisingly. "You're getting quite good at this, Rosier."

"At what?" he replies, flushing the way he always seems to when Juniper turns her full attention on him.

"Rule-breaking. The planning part, anyway. Guess I've been a bad influence."

Felix pushes off from the post, rolling his eyes and giving his best look of disdain, but feeling secretly pleased.

"Don't flatter yourself, Windsong." He swaggers back toward the castle. "I've always been good at this."

* * *

Kettleburn proves to be as difficult to track down as his Chimaera. Felix and Juniper spend the rest of the morning searching the castle for him with no luck. Juniper even plucks up the nerve to ask Filch if he's seen the Care of Magical Creatures teacher anywhere. But the caretaker considers this a highly suspicious question, and Juniper is trapped for several painful minutes listening to Filch rattle off a list of his preferred punishments for "nosy, no-good students" before Felix finds a pretext to rescue her.

"Maybe we should ask Hagrid," Juniper suggests quietly as they hurry away from the scowling caretaker. "He helps Kettleburn sometimes. He might even know where the Chimaera is, himself."

So they tramp across the snow-covered grounds towards Hagrid's cabin, only to find both Hagrid and Kettleburn together, conversing in low tones in Hagrid's garden. The two men are too far away for either of their voices to carry, but the discussion they're embroiled in looks serious. The bit of Hagrid's face visible around his beard and tangled mass of hair is brick red, while Kettleburn is wearing the sternest expression Felix has ever seen on him. At the sound of boots crunching in the snow, however, they break off abruptly to face the approaching students.

Hagrid waves and gives a somewhat forced smile which Juniper returns.

Felix is too busy watching Kettleburn. Is it his imagination, or does Kettleburn's one eye widen as it recognizes him? Felix feels the back of his neck prickle and he's instantly on his guard.

If Juniper has picked up on the strange undercurrent, she gives no indication. "Hello Hagrid, Professor Kettleburn!" she greets them brightly.

"Hello, Juniper!" returns Hagrid, taking a step toward her. "How've yeh been? Not seen yeh for some time now. Keepin' outta trouble, I 'ope?" He seems anxious to start up a conversation with her and end the one he's turned his back on.

Felix chances a glance at Kettleburn again and discovers the tall professor is still looking at him, face inscrutable.

"I've been too busy for trouble. Rosier's kept me trapped in the library all break." Juniper jerks a thumb at Felix and rolls her eyes.

"Ah, good. Tha's good," says Hagrid distractedly. "Why don' yeh come inside where it's warm, and I'll make us a cuppa." He gestures toward his cabin, still studiously ignoring the professor behind him.

"Actually Hagrid, Rosier and I were looking for Professor Kettleburn here."

Kettleburn finally turns his attention to the girl beside Felix. "Rea-lly, Miss Windsong? And what can I do for you both?" He steps forward to stand beside Hagrid.

Juniper glances at the strangely quiet Felix, but he continues to say nothing. Better to let her take the lead until he figures out why Kettleburn is watching him that way, he thinks.

"Well, we were hoping you might be willing to show us your Chimaera," Juniper says bluntly.

Both Hagrid and Kettleburn are visibly startled by Juniper's statement, and Felix winces inwardly. Her delivery is not nearly smooth enough. He really thought she'd be better at this considering how many times she's managed to talk her way out of expulsion.

Juniper continues hastily, "I know it's not something we study in third year, but Rosier was telling me all about it and it just sounded like such a fascinating creature. And we were both looking for a bit of a break from revision, you know?" She attempts a winning smile. Felix hopes he's the only one that sees how nervous she is behind it.

"Blimey, Juniper," Hagrid marvels," Never knew yeh were interested in dangerous beasts! Thought yeh preferred Thestrals and Abraxans, an' 'at?"

"Oh, I'm interested in all creatures!" insists Juniper.

Kettleburn has listened to a full minute of conversation about his chimaera without chiming in, and that, as far as Felix is concerned, settles the matter. He doesn't know how Kettleburn could have found out about their dragon, but he obviously suspects something. Frantically, Felix considers how best to disengage from the conversation.

"But," he interjects, before Juniper can say anything further. "It's obvious you're in the middle of something, Professor. We don't want to bother you. We'll catch you another time."

Gripping Juniper's elbow firmly, Felix starts to pull her from the garden. She opens her mouth to protest, but it's Kettleburn who speaks first.

"It's no bother at all. I'd be delighted to show you." Except Kettleburn has never sounded less delighted to Felix, and his sense of foreboding increases. "Hagrid, old chap, I do apologize, seems I was mistaken. You'll pardon me for making the assumption, I hope. Just seemed the most likely scenario, you know." Kettleburn claps Hagrid on the elbow, the highest part of him he can reach, and turns to the curiously listening students.

"Alright you two, follow me." And without another word Kettleburn limps off across the grounds, in the direction of the forest.

Juniper tugs her arm away from Felix and, waving a goodbye to Hagrid, trots off behind the professor.

Felix's heart is pounding, his feeling of nervous expectation as great as the first day he met Sparky, only much less pleasant. But he can't think of a way to back out now without arousing even more suspicion, so he has no choice but to follow.

The three of them walk parallel to the forest edge in silence for several minutes. It isn't until Hagrid's cabin is out of earshot that Kettleburn finally speaks, addressing Felix.

"Mr. Rosier, did you ever send that letter to my friend in Romania, by any chance? About available positions working with dragons?"

Felix swallows hard and fights to keep his voice steady. "Yes sir, I did. Before the holiday. I haven't heard anything yet, but it's still rather early."

"Hmm.. interesting," says Kettleburn, still walking a pace ahead and not looking at them. "Do you know, I wrote to him before the holidays as well. Told him I had a gifted student interested in dragons who would be getting in contact with him."

Felix's stomach drops. He chances a glance at Juniper and sees she's gone pale.

"I received an answer back yesterday to say he _had_ got a letter from someone at Hogwarts, only it wasn't about a job."

Felix says nothing and forbids his face from giving anything away.

"This letter," continues the professor, "said there was a injured dragon currently hiding in the Hogwarts grounds and asked if the Reserve would be interested in rescuing it." Kettleburn stops abruptly and faces them. "A Common Welsh Green, is that right? I remember you were particularly interested in them." He fixes his one eye on Felix, mechanical arm crossed over the other.

Felix takes a deep breath, developing a believable denial at lightning speed, but Juniper cuts in before he can speak.

"Yes sir, it is. And it's my fault."

Both Kettleburn and Felix turn to her in shock.

"_Your _fault, Miss Windsong?" Kettleburn asks, taken aback.

"Yes. I'm the one who found him. The dragon I mean. Over the summer," explains Juniper in that chaotic way she has when she's put on the spot. "I tried to help him. His wing is injured. But I couldn't fix it, so I've just been feeding him and keeping him safe." She glances quickly at Felix. "Rosier was trying to stop me. That's why he wrote the letter. He didn't have anything to do with it, though."

Kettleburn rubs at his chin, taking in this new information before questioning Felix again, "Is this true, Mr. Rosier?"

Felix, who's been busy calling Juniper a dozen kinds of an idiot in his head, feels a rush of gratitude and guilt. Exactly as he did the last time she stuck her neck out for him, and it's just as confusing to him now as it was then*. Self-preservation being such a Slytherin tenant, Felix can't understand why she insists on taking the blame for things she hasn't done._ Is it loyalty or does she fancy she's untouchable?_ Felix marvels.

His rational side is screaming at him to take his escape and run, but Felix is more practiced at ignoring it now then he was last year. So he shakes his head.

"No, sir," Felix says. Juniper does a double take beside him. "Windsong might have found it, but I've been helping her with it all term. I'm as much at fault as she is."

"All term?" repeats Kettleburn sounding more impressed than angry. "And with all your appendages still intact?!" He looks them quickly up and down as if expecting to find a secret wooden limb.

"Yes sir," confirms Juniper with a grin. "He's really very well-behaved for a dragon."

"But where on earth did you find a dragon in the first place? And where could you possibly hide one where Hagrid wouldn't know about it? You know, I suspected him and all!"

"Um..." hesitates Juniper. "It's all kind of a long story."

Kettleburn claps his hand and mechanical claw together briskly. "Well, not to worry!" he declares with enthusiasm. "You can explain the whole thing on the way."

"On the way to what, sir?" asks Felix warily.

"Why, to the dragon, of course!"

* * *

"Merlin's beard, he's a beauty, isn't he? And healthy looking to boot!"

Juniper and Felix stand awkwardly beside an exuberant Kettleburn as the professor stares down into the valley at the emerald green dragon. Sparky glares up at the newcomer in fury, his roar discordant with rage, but Kettleburn's smile only grows wider.

"Listen to that! Welsh Greens do have the most beautiful call, don't they?" He bends at the waist and leans out over the ledge, squinting to get a better look at the dragon. Sparky snaps his jaws at him menacingly.

"Seems to be missing a tooth, though. What have you been feeding him?" inquires Kettleburn without looking up.

Juniper's eyes flick to Felix before answering, "Rabbits mostly." They've given Kettleburn an abridged version of Sparky's disastrous walkabout, but so far avoided any mention of their injuries.

"Rea-lly? So that's where they've been running off to." Kettleburn straightens up, sounding not in the least upset at discovering their theft. "Doesn't explain why he would lose a tooth, though. Rabbits should be easy enough for him to chew." He tilts his head to the side as he watches Sparky, whose low growling now reverberates through the valley like a church organ.

In spite of their precarious position, Felix cannot quite control his urge to continue impressing his teacher. He rolls up his sleeve to reveal the puckered scar tissue on his forearm.

"He lost the tooth when he bit me. After we'd shrunk him," explains Felix. They have _not_ neglected to mention their remarkable bit of charm work.

"Merlin's beard!" Kettleburn cries again, turning from the dragon for the first time and reaching for Felix's arm. "How extraordinary! Still can't quite believe such a thing possible, but... there it is! Can't see any other way for a dragon bite to be so small." He inspects the scar closely. "And healing up so neatly!"

With a sudden crazed screech, Sparky leaps forward and claws at the wall just beneath Kettleburn, his eyes blazing with such intense hatred even Felix is taken aback. Juniper leans down and speaks to the dragon in a low, soothing voice.

Kettleburn only chuckles heartily at Sparky's attempt to murder him. "Territorial, isn't he?" He turns back to Felix. "Where did you find a salve for dragon bites? I can't imagine Professor Snape would whip up such a thing without asking a great many questions."

Felix puffs out his chest just a little. "I made it myself. The recipe is in A Dragon Keeper's Guide. There's a copy in the library."

Kettleburn steps back, hands on hips, and surveys the two students. "Well, in all my years of teaching I've never heard the like. Two students raising a dragon all on their own, sustaining no major injuries, and keeping it secret for so long. And one just a third year." He beams at them. "Might have to submit your names as keynote speakers for the next Man-Eating Creatures conference!"

There's a short silence where neither student knows quite what to say. Felix's stomach is in knots. He knows they can't avoid the topic of punishment forever, and he doesn't dare hope that Kettleburn's strange pride in their forbidden side project will stretch to a pardon of all crimes.

Juniper, as always, plunges in first. "Does that mean you aren't going to tell Professor Dumbledore, sir?" she ventures.

Kettleburn's smile falters. "As to that..."

The professor looks between the two students before him and the dragon below. Felix tries to fix his face to look as contrite as possible. Even Sparky has fallen silent, merely crouching below them in readiness, tail swishing from side to side.

Kettleburn sighs deeply. "I suppose we could avoid involving the Headmaster just this once." Felix sees Juniper break into a grin out of the corner of his eye, but he feels certain a caveat is coming. "As long as you both give me your word that you will not return here again. For any reason whatsoever."

A warm sensation of relief washes over Felix, drowning out the frantic protests of the part of him not ready to give up his dragon. _You knew this was coming_, chides his rational voice,_ just be thankful you're not being expelled_.

Juniper appears to have no such mediating voice in her own head. "But Professor, we can help! He knows us really well by now, we can-

"Miss Windsong," interrupts Kettleburn firmly. "As incredible a feat as this is, it is a wonder that neither of you has been killed or maimed." Juniper tries to interject but Kettleburn raises his voice over hers. "And as your Professor, I cannot allow you to continue to put yourself in danger." He looks down at Juniper, not without sympathy, and adds. "I assure you, I will take excellent care of him until he can be moved."

Felix can tell from Juniper's face that she has a few more objections. He steps in hastily before she can ruin their reprieve.

"Of course, sir. Thank you."

"So, do I have your word?" Kettleburn asks them seriously.

Felix nods once. "Yes, sir."

Kettleburn's one eye settles on Juniper. "Miss Windsong?"

Juniper's face is more conflicted than Felix has ever seen it. She looks down at Sparky, still waiting restlessly in the ditch below. The dragon looks back at her and Felix is sure that its eyes are less ferocious than they were when fixed on Kettleburn. He feels a sudden lump in his throat and coughs to cover it. He wishes she would just say yes and let them leave quickly. He doesn't want to belabor this anymore.

At last, Juniper tears her gaze from the dragon and stares at her feet. "Alright."

"Very well," pronounces Kettleburn, solemnly. "Then that's all we'll say about the matter."

Sparky lets out a lilting, musical roar, almost like a question. Felix cannot bring himself to look at the dragon.

"I suppose the two of you can find your own way back by now?" Kettleburn says pointedly, arms crossed.

"Of course," answers Felix automatically. "Thank you again, sir." He takes a step away from the ditch, pulling Juniper with him. She follows, dragging her feet through the dirt reluctantly, and Felix has to work hard to stop himself yanking at her arm to speed her up. His heart is pounding, and not in a way he enjoys, and he wants desperately to escape the rush of unpleasant feelings welling up inside him.

As they move haltingly toward the trees, Sparky starts to utter short cries, like bugle calls. Felix keeps his face fixed rigidly ahead of him, and Juniper covers her mouth with her hand, finally walking faster.

There's a scrabbling noise behind them, and, acting on instinct, Felix glances back. Sparky is craning his neck over the edge of the ditch, smouldering yellow eyes just visible. The dragon stares at Felix with an expression he doesn't recognize; there's confusion in it, and what might be fear.

It's unbearable.

Felix breaks their eye contact and faces forward again. It takes all the self-discipline he can muster to maintain his usual, impenetrable mask.

* * *

The last night before the rest of the student body arrives back at school finds Felix in the same spot he's been in since his promise to Kettleburn: curled up on the sofa near the fireplace in the Slytherin common room, more miserable than he can ever remember being in his life.

While prone to fits of brooding during the summer holidays, alone in his parents' dark, silent house, Felix has never allowed himself to languish like this at school. The idea of anyone else seeing him so overcome with emotion is repugnant. But with no other students around to posture for, his pride has abandoned ship, leaving him to the waves of grief that wrack his body every time he thinks of his dragon. _Not his dragon anymore_, his brain reminds heartlessly.

Felix flips a page in his Charms book listlessly, not reading a word (his standard revision method for the past few days). Instead, he watches the fire burn itself down, yellow flames fading into orange embers. _Like dragon eyes_, he thinks, and another agonizing wave washes over him.

"Felix?"

He looks up, startled, to find Juniper leaning against the sofa opposite, balancing a plate in one hand. Felix has been so lost in melancholy he hasn't heard her come in. She drops onto the seat across from him, and leans over to set the plate carefully on his side of the table. Felix looks down. The plate is full of sandwiches.

"You weren't at dinner," observes Juniper. "Again."

Felix says nothing and makes no move to take the plate or any of the sandwiches.

"You really should eat something," she continues coaxingly.

He can't bring himself to answer.

Juniper sighs and falls silent, staring at the dark wooden table separating them.

Felix wishes she would stop badgering him, but he feels immensely glad to see her again. He's missed her over the last few days, and often wished she would emerge from wherever she's been hiding so he could talk to her, distract himself from his misery. But Juniper has been entirely absent from the Slytherin dungeon since their dragon adventure concluded, and Felix isn't sure why or where's she's been. Even though he's taken to sleeping on the sofa in the common room at night, unable to fall asleep in his own bed, he hasn't seen her sneak in or out. Felix wonders distantly if the rumours that Juniper now has a top secret curse breaking headquarters somewhere in the castle are true, but he can't bring himself to care about cursed vaults just at present.

"Felix," Juniper's voice cuts through his musings. Felix can't bear to see the concern in her face, so he watches her fingers twist nervously in her lap instead.

"I know...you're upset."

Upset. Felix bristles at the word; so abominably trite compared to the depth of the pain he feels. The indignity of it rouses him from his torpor.

"_Upset?_ Yes, I suppose you could say that," Felix croaks, his voice hoarse from disuse. He realizes he's not spoken out loud in days. "Although, I think I have rather a right to be _upset_." He screws his face up at the offensive term. "Sparky is gone and I failed to help him in any way. I've wasted an entire semester on a project that could have caused me to be expelled and ruined everything I've worked for, and I have nothing to show for it." Felix's words bleed with a bitterness that he hates hearing but cannot hide.

"Felix," Juniper implores, and he's never heard his name pronounced so tenderly. "You know that's not true."

He lifts his eyebrows at her.

"We did what we meant to in the first place. Got Sparky somewhere safe. We may not have fixed his wing, but... we did everything we could and I certainly don't consider it a failure."

Felix's face twists unpleasantly into something like an agonized sneer.

"You knew we couldn't keep him," adds Juniper softly; and her eyes are so wide and her voice so gentle that something breaks inside Felix. His aggravation flickers and dies like a candle flame in a wind, and he drops his head into his hands.

"I thought... I'd have more time," Felix mumbles through his fingers, the words spilling out of him without his consent. "And I didn't-" His voice catches. "Didn't say goodbye." Even in his anguish, Felix is mortified at his visible display of weakness. He can't remember the last time he was so emotional in front of another person, and he tightens his hands to hide the flush suffusing his cheeks.

Padding footsteps echo across the empty room, and Felix feels the sofa dip slightly as Juniper seats herself next to him. She rests a hand on his shoulder tentatively, as if she worried she might break it.

"I know," agrees Juniper quietly. "It's awful to lose things."

Felix looks up, realization hitting him like a punch in the gut. All the grief and regret and despair and myriad other emotions Felix can't begin to define that he feels over the loss of the dragon, a creature he's known half a year and that was never really his to begin with...t_hat must be what it was like for her, losing her brother_, he understands,_ only a hundred times worse_. And Felix feels suddenly foolish, on top of everything else.

"Juniper, I-" struggles Felix, but these are words he's never practiced and they're surprisingly hard to say. "I'm sorry," he finally mumbles. He rubs the back of his neck self-consciously. "I suppose... this is all a bit ridiculous to you."

"It's not," says Juniper suddenly firm. Her hand on his shoulder tightens its grip. "Losing someone you care about is the worst thing in the world. Even if you've only known them a little while." She smiles. "Even if they're a dragon."

Felix stares at the girl next to him. The smile she wears now is different than the one he's used to seeing. It isn't sarcastic or affected, or huge and lopsided. It's small and just a little sad, and Felix thinks it's almost...beautiful. A shiver runs the length of his spine, as if something both hot and cold has been poured down the back of his shirt. Like the first night he saw the dragon, he remembers. It's so unexpected that for a moment Felix forgets to breathe.

Then the moment is over, as quickly as it began, and Juniper withdraws her hand.

"But you still have to eat," she insists, and reaches across him for the plate of sandwiches, thrusting it into his lap.

At her words, Felix can feel his stomach rumbling violently and realizes he hasn't eaten at all today, and quite possibly yesterday either. He sighs melodramatically and reaches for a sandwich, trying not to seem too eager. But Juniper laughs anyway, standing up and moving toward the entrance wall.

"Wait!" calls Felix before he can stop himself. Juniper turns back, expecting him to speak but Felix has no follow up planned. He has no idea what he wants to say to her, or what they even have in common anymore now that they have no dragon. He just knows that talking to Juniper seems to ease some of the unbearable weight in his chest and he isn't ready for her to leave. He casts around quickly for something, anything they can discuss.

"Did I ever tell you I met your brother, once?"

Juniper falls back onto the couch immediately. "What? No! Really?"

The grin that finds its way to Felix's face feels pleasantly familiar after days of being absent. He settles into the story, pausing occasionally for a bite of sandwich, enjoying having Juniper's full attention on him. He manages to keep her interest, and they continue to chat even after he's exhausted what he remembers about her brother, long into the evening. Until an echo of the warm comfort he's grown accustomed to feeling with her over the last term creeps back into his bones.

It's his first tolerable night since the dragon was ripped from him; the common room seems less gloomy and the fire cheerful again. And Felix reflects that perhaps his months spent with the dragon may not have been a waste after all.

* * *

_Also, if anyone is interested, the story Felix tells Juniper about her brother can be found in my Felix back-story fic, "Four Things Felix Rosier Remembered". _


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: A few notes on the dialogue: Underlined dialogue is taken directly from the Farewell, My Prefect questline. A * at the end of dialogue means I've changed up the wording to make it sound more natural, but maintained the integrity of the line from the quest. Anything else is my own interpretation/addition.

_Summary: These feelings will fade, Felix assures himself, they have to. It's not as if they have any other choice. Juniper Windsong is no more viable a prospect than Dragonology is a career._

* * *

One evening in April, a group of Slytherins holds an informal conference in the common room to discuss the issue on the mind of the entire house: the strange behaviour of their senior prefect, Felix Rosier. While uncharacteristically absent most of the first term, Felix has spent the second term breathing down everyone's necks like a vulture. He has little patience for anything he deems too frivolous (such as exploding snap or over-loud laughter), and none at all for attempts at outright rule breaking (a boy caught with dungbombs was given a weeks worth of detentions).

The general opinion of the older Slytherins, who know Felix from years previous, is that he must have had a secret dalliance that ended rather badly. It would explain the negligence of his house through the fall and his uncharacteristically vitriol spirits this spring. A lively debate ensues over the identity of this secret girlfriend or boyfriend (a consensus never being reached on this finer point), and it's an embarrassingly long time before anyone realizes that the prefect in question has entered the common room.

After docking twenty-five points from his own house for malicious gossip and sending everyone to bed, Felix sits on the sofa brooding until well after midnight. If they only knew how close to the mark that rumour really comes.

Felix continues to miss Sparky with a fierceness he did not know he possessed. The new term has allowed him to fall back into his old routines, and he has no end of classwork and NEWT revision to occupy his time, but he cannot put himself back together again exactly the way he was. Being a senior prefect and top of his class hold no satisfaction for him anymore. Nothing Felix has ever done sets his heart aflame the way the dragon did, and he understands now that dedication and passion are not quite the same thing.

Almost equal to the loss of his dragon is the loss of his fledgling friendship with Juniper Windsong. There's no denying that in one term Juniper has become the closest friend Felix has ever had. No one else, at Hogwarts or at home, knows him so well, and he feels certain his malaise this term would be easier to bear if he only had her to talk to again.

But Felix has seen Juniper only a handful of times since January. His scattered attempts to engage her in conversation always end with Juniper being dragged away by Murphy McNully to talk Quidditch strategy, or Bill Weasley to discuss the cursed vaults, or that Ravenclaw troublemaker Tulip Karasu for Merlin knows what reasons. She has no end of friends of her own to revise with so Felix cannot even use schoolwork as an excuse to spend time with her. He reflects bitterly that while the dragon may have been _his _defining adventure at Hogwarts, it hasn't been much more than a side story for Juniper.

The perfect excuse finds Felix in the end when Professor Snape asks him to submit recommendations for next year's Slytherin prefect. He takes an evening off from revising to look over the house roster, but no name immediately stands out. One of Felix's greatest pet peeves is students who vie for the position of prefect merely to use the bathroom without paying a bit of attention to the duties that go along with it. He runs his quill down the list, assessing the leadership capabilities of each person and finding himself extremely disappointed. Having ticked off only a couple of names for further consideration, he comes to the end and sees at the very bottom: Windsong, Juniper.

Felix sits up a little straighter in his chair. Windsong. A prefect. Now _there's_ an idea...

Her absolute unconcern with rules would, admittedly, be an issue. But perhaps not so much as he would have thought three years ago. After all, Felix himself has broken nearly as many rules as she has this year, and he still considers himself an excellent prefect, doesn't he? More important than mindless rule following, he now believes, is loyalty to one's house, dedication to one's responsibilities, and a genuine concern for one's fellow students: all attributes Juniper has in spades. It doesn't hurt that she's also been the top points earner for Slytherin three years in a row now.

Of course, Juniper is only a third year. She won't be up for the position until next spring. But that doesn't mean Felix can't recommend her. And, perhaps... prep her a little for the role? A plan begins to form in Felix's head and he feels more animated than he has in months.

* * *

Felix sends Juniper an owl on the last Saturday of the Easter break asking her to meet him in the common room at her earliest convenience. Nearly all the other students will be in Hogsmeade or the library that day, he reasons, so they should be able to steal a bit of privacy. Except that her earliest convenience turns out to be just before dinner, when everyone has arrived back from their outings and there isn't a free corner in the whole common room.

Felix is more than a little put out at having been kept waiting all day, and he regards Juniper superciliously as she picks her way through the crowd to the back of the room where he's been forced to stand.

"Well, well, the curse-breaking Slytherin finally comes to see me."

Juniper has the decency to look a little sheepish.

"Sorry, couldn't get away," she says vaguely. "What's up? Your letter said it was a personal matter*."

Felix clears his throat, aware of the eyes of the surrounding students on him as he speaks. "When we first met, I had just become a prefect. Now I'm a seventh-year, and come June I will leave Hogwarts forever. "

The corners of Juniper's lips twitch, and Felix can tell she's having a time of it keeping a straight face through his ceremonial little speech.

"Don't worry. I won't let you down. I'll make sure Slytherin crushes Gryffindor at every opportunity," she quips through stifled giggles.

A fourth year at the table next to them gives a little cheer at this and Felix scowls. For once, he would rather the entire house wasn't listening to what he has to say. He glances sideways at the eavesdropping students before continuing.

"I know you will. It pains me to admit it," Felix sighs heavily for effect," but you are the finest student in Slytherin. After myself of course." A fair bit of laughter and a few scattered cries of "What?!" and "Since bloody when?" erupt from the students around them, and Felix has to raise his voice to be heard. "I want to teach you a few things. Skills that will prepare you to be a leader of the house."

Juniper cocks her head, ignoring the minor uproar around them. "Like what sort of skills?"

Felix lifts an eyebrow mysteriously. "Meet me on the training grounds after dinner. It's time to begin our final lesson."

* * *

Juniper strides purposefully across the grounds as Felix finishes setting up the dueling dummies. He's surprised to see she's wearing her Quidditch robes and carrying her broomstick.

"Skye wants to try and squeeze in extra chaser trainings every night until the cup match," she explains upon seeing his expression. "So I can't stay long." Juniper takes in the dummies lined up on the field ahead of them. "What's all this about, then?" she asks curiously.

They're alone, finally. Felix has been waiting for this moment all term, but now that it's here he isn't sure what to say. It's been months since they've talked, _really_ talked. Felix knows they used to chat easily, he just can't remember how they went about it. He falls back on formality.

"I want to teach you the freezing charm, Immobulus."

Juniper's eyes widen in recognition.

"Immobulus has served me well - especially when it comes to helping Slytherin win at Quidditch." Felix winks. "Just don't tell Madam Hooch."

"As if Slytherin needs to resort to such tactics to win at Quidditch!" scoffs Juniper indignantly.

Felix smirks. It's true. They're favoured to win the cup for the first time in years, due in large part to her. "Pick a dummy and I'll talk you through how the spell works."

Felix spends the next hour correcting her stance, her wand movement, her pronunciation, while Juniper, as always, asks too many questions. As they discuss the minutiae of the spell, he's relieved to find them slipping back into their old banter like a favorite jumper and for the first time since before Christmas, he feels truly relaxed. Standing just behind Juniper to monitor her arm raise, Felix recognizes the scent of lavender and something else that hangs around her. He's smelled it often enough before, but for some reason it seems exceptionally pleasant now. Probably because it reminds him of their nights spent with the dragon, he decides.

Juniper is uncharacteristically slow to master the spell. Felix is forced to repeat his instructions and demonstrations more than once, and in spite of her caveat that she cannot stay long, Juniper takes her time perfecting her movements. Felix wonders if she's missed spending time with him as much as he has with her. Finally, as the light begins to fade, she throws a perfect freezing charm at the middle dummy making it go entirely rigid.

"Well done!" Felix compliments her, clapping her on the shoulder. The contact makes his hand tingle slightly; he isn't sure why, but he removes it quickly just the same. "If you ever want to trip a Gryffindor, use Immobulus on his shoes."

"Or a dragon?" jokes Juniper, looking at him sideways.

Felix smiles wistfully at the memory. "I'd recommend starting with something a bit smaller."

Juniper tucks her wand away and faces him. "Well, thank you for teaching me." she says in mock solemnity.

There's a brief pause in which Felix wonders how long he can press her to stay, when they hear a whistle from the direction of the castle. He turns to see Skye Parkin tapping her foot impatiently and pointing to her broomstick.

Juniper sighs. "I've got to dash."

"Wait," Felix blurts out before she can disappear. "We're still not done." She looks at him quizzically and Felix casts around for something else he can show her.

"There's a potion that Snape hardly ever teaches but you should know it all the same. Meet me Monday night in the potions classroom."

Juniper's brow furrows a little, but she nods. "Alright."

"Windsong! C'mon!" yells Skye, and Juniper sprints toward her without a backward glance.

* * *

Felix is already seated at a cauldron, potion book and ingredients laid out in front of him when Juniper bursts into the dungeon, late and wearing her Quidditch gear.

"There you are," he sniffs disapprovingly.

"Sorry!" Juniper pants, out of breath, flinging herself onto the stool next to Felix. Her face is red and sweaty and she's still carrying her broomstick.

She must have run directly from the Quidditch pitch, Felix realizes, and he feels a brief pang of guilt for monopolizing her limited time. But the thought of talking to Juniper again has carried Felix through the intermittent days in exceptionally high spirits and he can't bear to disappoint himself now by sending her back to the common room. So he gets right to the point.

"I'm going to show you how to brew a potion that Snape would never teach you." Juniper looks up interested, as he continues. "It's called Babbling Beverage."

She emits a snort of derisive laughter, then taps a finger to her cheek in feigned thoughtfulness. "Let me guess. Drinking it makes you babble."

"With a mind that sharp you'll be head girl one day," Felix comments dryly. " Yes, drinking babbling beverage makes you talk uncontrollable nonsense."

Juniper cocks her head to the side. "This seems like a particularly pointless potion."

"Really?" Felix lifts an eyebrow. "You can't think of anything to do with it*?"

Juniper shrugs. "I don't know. Use it to get out of class*?" Her face lights up as a thought strikes her. "I could trick a teacher into drinking it. If they couldn't talk the class would be cancelled*!"

Felix's eyes widen a little, and he smiles, impressed. "You are wicked, Juniper Windsong."

Juniper nods her head in a sarcastic acknowledgement of his faux praise.

"Grab your cauldron and I'll show you how it's done."

Felix reads off ingredients and instructions while Juniper pours over her cauldron. He's picked the most finicky, overly complicated potion he's ever heard of that can be completed in one sitting. Partly, to make their lesson last as long as possible, and partly because he's interested to see how she'll react. Prefect duties are often tedious, and Juniper, while patient and focused with things that matter to her, tends to balk when forced to spend too much time working on anything she considers unimportant.

Felix is therefore rather proud when she sees the potion through, though not without a good bit of complaining and mild cursing. Its just after midnight when Juniper finally pushes away from the table and runs her hands through her hair, now soaked flat to her head with perspiration.

"Well done!" applauds Felix. "Even Snape would be impressed."

"I doubt that." Juniper yawns. She squeezes her eyes shut and grinds the heels of her hands against them hard, as if to rub away her exhaustion.

"Now for the best part," announces Felix with relish, unable to suppress a mischievous grin. "The taste test."

Juniper's eyes snap open to stare at him. "Why do I feel like this is the real reason you showed me this potion?" she asks suspiciously.

"I'm not going to apologize. I could use a good laugh."

Juniper heaves a dramatic sigh. "Alright," she concedes, with the air of a martyr. "Consider this your going away present." And before Felix can stop her, she ladles a bit of the potion out of the still steaming cauldron, and gulps it down.

Felix is entirely speechless. He had meant it as a joke, fully expecting her to refuse. It never occurred to him for a second she might actually drink the bloody thing. Juniper smacks her lips, face screwed up at the taste of the potion.

"Well, what do you think?" asks Felix with anticipation. He has never seen this potion in action before, never known anyone foolish enough to drink it, and he has no idea what will happen. An echo of the excitement Felix now associates with dragons creeps through his veins.

Juniper opens her mouth cautiously.

"I think it tastes very- " is all she's able to get out before a stream of nonsense syllables erupt from her mid-sentence. She claps a hand to her mouth, eyes comically wide and laughter explodes from Felix, louder than he knew was possible.

Juniper seems more shocked by his response than her own reaction to the potion, and opens her mouth again, probably to comment on it. But all that comes out is gibberish.

Felix actually pounds the table with his hand, tears leaking from his eyes at the force of his laughter. Distantly he knows it's not even that funny, but a dam has broken somewhere inside him and all the emotion he's kept pent up this term bursts forth behind his hysterical laughter.

Juniper watches him in some concern and tries to speak again, babbling nonsense with an inquisitive inflection at the end.

Felix wipes the corners of his eyes and attempts to pull himself together. "Okay, okay. Stop talking before I pass out from laughing so hard."

Now distinctly pink, Juniper folds her arms crossly and mumbles something else Felix can't understand. His grin is still glued to his face, but his laughter subsides.

"Well I suppose that's it for tonight. Can't do much else with you babbling like a lunatic. " Another chuckle escapes him and Juniper glowers. "Can you meet me in Greenhouse Three tomorrow after dinner*. I have a plant I want to show you."

Juniper shakes her head and points at her Quidditch uniform.

"The next night, then?"

She continues to shake and point.

Felix huffs impatiently. For some reason, the thought of her spending so much time with other people makes him irritable.

"Okay, well when are you free?"

Juniper pulls a timetable out of her bag and consults it. Felix is more than a little surprised to find her so organized. He makes a note of this in the mental file he's compiling of her potential prefect skills.

She taps a space to indicate a morning the day before the last Quidditch match. Felix hesitates. He has a revision session with the other prefects that day that he really shouldn't miss. But a sudden recklessness in him rears its head, as if it's missed throwing his common sense to the wind since the dragon's been gone, and Felix agrees before he can stop himself.

* * *

In the days leading up to their next scheduled meeting, Juniper occupies Felix's thoughts more than his rational side thinks she should. He finds himself going out of his way to take hallways he knows Juniper frequents in the hopes of receiving a wave and a smile as she passes. A girl with similar coloured hair sits a few rows in front of him in Transfiguration, and he can't stop himself from glancing at the back of her head every few minutes. And something in the Potions classroom one lesson emits a powerful waft of lavender that distracts him so badly his Draught of Living Death is unusable.

Felix tries to assure himself that this is normal. People enjoy having friends and miss them when they're not around, that's all. He has spent the last seven years cultivating accomplishments, not friendships, so it's only to be expected that the newness of the experience excites him. The rational part of his brain finds this theory hard to swallow, but Felix ignores it (he's an expert at that now). Instead, he channels his energy into planning out the details of their next meeting.

For once, Juniper is not only on time but actually arrives at Greenhouse Three before Felix. She turns as he walks in and flashes a smile that makes his stomach lurch. _Just a typical friendship response_? inquires his rational voice. Felix banishes it with a grimace.

"Watch yourself," He says, his greeting a little brusque to cover his sudden self-consciousness. "There's a Snargaluff over there and it could attack you when you least expect."

Felix gestures over Juniper's shoulder and she spins around quickly, taking a step back. He notices with a pleasant shiver how much nearer she is to him now. His rational voice wonders why this observation is relevant.

"Snargaluff?" Juniper asks in some alarm.

"It's a violent plant known for its green pulsating pods," explains Felix automatically, relieved that he prepared what to say in advance since the dialogue in his brain is very distracting. "Sixth years learn to extract them. I'm going to teach you."

"Sounds brilliant," Juniper says enthusiastically as Felix leads her to the back of the greenhouse. He's hyperaware of her shoulder brushing against his slightly as they walk, and the fleeting contact is so distracting he can only nod and agree, "Snargaluff is amazing," then groan inwardly at how inane this sounds.

The plant resting placidly in its pot seems harmless enough. Its long tendrils rustle very slightly as if in a breeze, though the air in the greenhouse is still. But Felix knows better than to be fooled by the Snargaluff's benign appearance.

"But it's wild. It requires cunning to keep it contained." Felix glances at Juniper. "Perfect for a Slytherin."

Juniper tugs on her dragon hide gloves and inspects the plant in front of her, head cocked a little to the side. She reaches a cautious hand toward one of the bulbs and the Snargaluff springs to life in an instant. Its vines writhe and strike like angry snakes, complete with a sinister hissing sound as the bulbs rub together. Juniper draws her hand back quickly.

"So...is there a trick to this I should know?" she asks, keeping her eyes on the angry plant.

"You distract it with one hand, while the other immobilises it," Felix replies with a small smile. "Here let me show you."

Juniper waves her left hand in the air above the Snargaluff, its tendrils stretching so far to reach her the pot almost tips over, while Felix closes his fingers around the back of her right.

"Plants like these need a firm hand," he murmurs as he guides Juniper's hand to the plant's base and shows her exactly where to grasp it to soothe the Snargaluff's frantically waving vines. Immediately, the plant's movements subside to a gentle rustling again, and Juniper can now use her free hand to collect the pods.

Felix steps closer, under the pretense of showing Juniper an easier method of extracting a pod and breathes in her perfume again. It's as strangely exhilarating as it was on the grounds, but he refuses to be baited by the part of his brain that questions this. His decision to remain standing directly behind Juniper while she works is entirely for her protection, and has absolutely nothing to do with how much he enjoys being close to her.

Juniper does an excellent job, as Felix knew she would, gathering the pods from the plant's bulbs decisively. But as she extracts the last, her hand on the stem falters and the newly awoken Snargaluff shoots an angry vine toward her face with lightning speed. Juniper jumps back at the same time Felix grabs her shoulders to pull her away, so that she falls against his chest momentarily before righting herself. The unexpected contact sends lightning through Felix, and his brain becomes strangely fuzzy. He gasps a little at the powerful sensation, but Juniper does not appear to notice.

"The vines of that Snargaluff nearly got me!" she exclaims, glancing reproachfully at the plant.

Felix clears his throat and smooths his hair back unconsciously. "You did well. I'm impressed," he mumbles, then clarifies hastily, "With how quickly you collected those pods."

Juniper beams at Felix and his stomach flips again. "Is that it, then?" she asks, carefully moving the bucket of pods out of reach of the violently thrashing Snargaluff.

Felix makes a supreme effort to clear his head. He doesn't want this to be over, but he can't think of anything else to show her. He stalls.

"Well, you learned to cast Immobulus, you brewed babbling beverage, and you learned how to extract Snargaluff pods." He ticks off their lessons on his fingers, wracking his brain for any excuse to keep her here a bit longer or to see her again later.

"Yes..." agrees Juniper suspiciously. "And thank you for all that. But I still don't understand why you're showing me all these things*."

Yes, why _has_ he done all of this? demands his rational side. His flimsy excuse of determining if she's really prefect material just won't hold water with his better sense anymore. Juniper hasn't proven anything about herself that he didn't already know.

_Well, I've missed spending time with her, then, that's reasonable isn't it? We're friends!_ Felix clings to this argument like a life jacket in which his rationality immediately pokes holes. Being friends doesn't explain the strange visceral reactions her presence is causing in him, sensations he never experienced in all the time they cared for the dragon together.

Juniper is watching him expectantly while his brain battles itself, and he has to say _something._

"You haven't...figured it out?" stutters Felix, doing his best to seem enigmatic instead of just as perplexed as she is.

Juniper tries to raise her eyebrows, that ridiculous looking expression that crinkles her forehead. Only now, Felix realizes it's actually adorable. He wonders how he's never noticed this before.

And then something clicks in his brain. Felix_ understands_. His eyes widen involuntarily. Some primal instinct demands that he run, and for once his rational side is more than happy to obey.

"Think on it. Then meet me back in the common room later," says Felix abruptly, already moving past her. He comes dangerously close to the wriggling Snargaluff in his effort not to touch any part of her.

"What? When?" Juniper calls after him, confused.

"I don't know. After dinner," he babbles without thinking. For the first time that day, Felix's entire brain is focused on the same goal: getting out of the greenhouse and away from her as fast as humanly possible.

* * *

At the beginning of Felix's fourth year, competition to be the next Slytherin prefect was vicious. It seemed everyone his age was dead set on the position, and perfect grades and a nearly flawless school record would not be enough to guarantee anyone the title. Felix was just beginning to despair that the badge he so longed for would slip through his grasp, when a miracle occurred: the Celestial Ball.

Almost overnight, hordes of formerly serious students dedicated to their grades and their goals now had eyes only for each other, leaving the path to prefect wide open for someone who could just keep their focus. Felix was more than happy to take advantage of his peers' childish behavior, and he assured himself smugly that he would never allow himself to become distracted by anything quite so ridiculous and fleeting as feelings.

Which makes his newfound fancy for Juniper so much harder to bear.

Safely ensconced in his dormitory, Felix buries himself under all the blankets he can conjure until his outline is barely distinguishable, attempting to hide from his own embarrassment. Why her, he thinks desperately, of all people? She's almost four years younger than he is, and nothing special to look at it. She's rash and reckless and unreasonable, far too many Gryffindor-like traits for any self-respecting Slytherin. Admittedly, she has talent and power, but her academic carelessness and general disregard for order has always driven him mad. Do they have anything in common except their house and a predilection for dragons?

_There is no reason_, insists the rational voice in his head. _It isn't logical. It's a sickness. You catch it from the people you're closest to_. This revelation soothes Felix's humiliated ego just a little. It isn't his fault. He's just spent too much time with her this year, that's all. More time than he's spent with any one person.

Felix sits up slowly, disentangling himself from the bedclothes. He takes several deep breaths, willing the horrid fluttering in his stomach to settle so he can come up with a plan. If it's being around her that causes him to feel like this then that's easily solved. He graduates in a just over a month; all he has to do is stay away her till then. And since finding any time to spend together this semester has been such an arduous task, avoiding her for just a few weeks should be no challenge at all.

There's a familiar wave of grief rising in him, but Felix stifles it, flattening his hair to his head ferociously. These feelings will fade, he assures himself, they have to. It's not as if they have any other choice. Juniper Windsong is no more viable a prospect than Dragonology is a career.

* * *

Felix seriously considers skiving off his meeting with Juniper as part of his new resolution to keep his distance. She might not even notice, he thinks bitterly; she has so many other friends, she probably won't have the time to come looking for him if he stands her up. But this line of reasoning runs dangerously to the question Felix refuses to ask himself under any circumstances whatsoever: how Juniper might feel about him. There's no good answer, and he wrenches his mind away from the thought forcibly.

In the end, the part of him that still aches from the abrupt loss of Sparky insists on saying some sort of goodbye. Closure will allow his feelings to fade more quickly, he decides, therefore seeing her one last time is a rational decision.

The common room is less crowded than it was the last time they met here. A few scattered fifth and seventh years are using dinner to catch up on revision at the study tables, and both sofas remain vacant, but Felix eschews the available seats. Just looking at the sofa calls to mind all the times they've sat there together this year, everything she's said to him and every emotion he's been forced to confront.

Lost in his memories, Felix is suddenly startled by a tentative hand on his arm. He turns to find Juniper watching him warily.

"Is everything alright?" she ventures cautiously. Her fingers against the exposed skin of his forearm set his nerves on fire, but he steps away purposely, rational side fully in control.

"_Oh, Windsong, there you are_," comments Felix airily. _"I was just looking around the common room. I'm going to miss our den of mischief when I graduate._" He executes a perfect smirk and eyebrow raise combo.

Juniper tilts her head a little, bemused, and Felix knows she's trying to see past his affectations. He redoubles his effort to remain aloof.

"And all of Slytherin will miss you," she assures him before pressing on, refusing to be distracted. "But seriously, Felix. What's going on? Why did you give me all those lessons?"

"You still don't know?" Felix allows his smirk to widen. "Come on... surely you have an idea what I want you to do." He can practically see her brain working behind her eyes, trying to pick apart his strange actions over the last few weeks and discern his motives.

"I don't know, earn more house points*?" Juniper shrugs. "Or make up an excuse to give me house points*?" She narrows her eyes at him slyly but he only continues to look inscrutable.

"Something else, then." Her jocularity vanishes, replaced by the focused expression she wears when she's concentrating on something important; a face so familiar to him now.

"You said... you were teaching me leadership skills. You want me to step up and be a leader?" Juniper finally concludes, cocking her head to the side curiously. "Like you?"

And in spite of his carefully crafted dispassion, Felix feels warmth spread through his chest the way it always does when she compliments him, when her attention belongs to him fully. He can't bring himself to voice his haughty rejoinder. He wants her to smile at him. To see him in that way only she seems to, where he isn't disappointing or unworthy or unsuitable.

"That's exactly right, Juniper," answers Felix softly. He watches her face light up just a little and he wants more.

"You are a born leader," he tells her in a voice entirely free of sarcasm or humor. "I see the potential in you. You're going to bring pride to our house."

Juniper blinks, so thrown off guard she forgets to hide the expression in her eyes. And for a brief moment, the two Slytherins each see the other without masks. He wonders if the same feeling is spreading through her chest, like a brilliant bubble inflating and inspiring him with confidence.

"And I am awarding Slytherin twenty five house points for all your hard work."

The moment ends, and Juniper laughs, shaking her head at him. "I knew it."

"I'm also going to put in a good word with Dumbledore and Snape," adds Felix. "I'll tell them you would make an excellent prefect."

That stops her laughter in its tracks.

"What?" Juniper cries, so loudly a fifth year near them hisses at her reproachfully. "You're joking, right? A prefect who's broken nearly every single rule at Hogwarts?"

Felix smiles at her. A real smile. "There's more to being a leader than following rules."

Juniper looks at him as though seeing him for the first time. There's so much in her eyes that can't be identified. Felix wishes desperately to know what she's thinking now. Rationality wants to refuse him hope, the hope that maybe he means something special to her as well. That one day, maybe...

"Felix," Juniper intones his name. Her gaze is almost too much for him to bear. "Thank you," is all she can say.

His disciplined rationality is strong, but it's never encountered this, and Felix cannot suppress a tidal wave of desire. He wants her to look at him like that a bit longer. He wants to be standing closer to her when she says his name. He wants her to be seventeen, leaving Hogwarts with him, maybe running off to find dragons together. At the very least he wants to hug her, to feel the tingling sensation that comes with her touch again.

Before he can think about it further, Felix reaches out his hand for her to shake. It's an acceptable compromise. Juniper looks at his hand and then at his face before extending her own and clasping firmly.

Felix knows he will miss her. Knows how badly it will hurt later when he's gone. But she won't be fourteen forever, and if he's learned anything from her its to expect the impossible. The thought of Juniper Windsong is a small ray of sun that breaks through the darkness of his future.

"Good luck with the rest your Hogwarts journey," offers Felix simply. "Hopefully we'll meet again years from now."

He gives her one last smile and lets her hand go.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, I'd love to hear it. If you want more Felix and Juniper, check out the sequel, Necessary Monsters, or view my HPHM Fanfiction Masterpost here.**

_Summary: There's no fanfare or applause, no sudden beam of light that shines down onto Felix as he makes his decision; the way such a life-changing decision really deserves, he thinks. There's just the instant when he knows what he's going to do, as surely and with as little wonder as if he had made the choice long ago and only just now remembered to inform himself._

* * *

"Last minute cramming, Rosier? Most unlike you!"

Felix looks up from the letter he's engrossed in, startled by the voice of the girl perched on the very edge of the bench beside him. Her hands wring together in her lap nervously, and her lips twitch in the rough facsimile of a smile. But, like all the other seventh years waiting to take their Defense Against the Dark Arts practical exam, it's an expression she's almost forgotten how to make. The faces in the small room run the spectrum from anxious to down right terrified, and the girl next to him isn't the only one whose hands are shaking.

Tilting the parchment away from the girl's prying eyes, Felix makes a vague sort of grunting noise hoping to dissuade any further questions when he hears his name called from the doorway. He re-folds the letter carefully along its well worn creases, and slips it into the pocket of his trousers where he imagines he can feel its slight weight against his leg. Standing briskly, he and four of his classmates follow the wizened NEWT official into the Great Hall.

It's lucky he's excellent at practical examinations, Felix reflects, as he's never revised so little for a test in his life. In spite of the fact that he has not practiced or even opened a book in the last two days, the counterjinx he casts is flawless and receives an enthusiastic nod from his suitably impressed examiner.

_Kettleburn assures me you excel under pressure...are uniquely qualified...asserts that you subdued the Common Welsh Green practically single handed... _One of his favorite phrases from the letter drifts through Felix's mind, and he swells with pride, deflecting the examiner's hex with such force the man stumbles.

"Well done, Mr. Rosier!" the NEWT official gushes after the exam has concluded. Felix thanks him with as much modesty as he can muster. "I must say, I've rarely seen anyone so composed during a NEWT. May I ask what career path you are planning to pursue?"

Felix's self-satisfied smile withers as nerves attack his confidence for the first time that morning. He mumbles something noncommittal and scurries away from the hall as quickly as dignity allows.

Students are milling about just outside the entrance, rehashing their performance and comparing comments from their examiners. Felix skirts the edges of the crowd to avoid being hailed by anyone he knows and makes a beeline for the open castle doors. The grounds are full of laughing underclassman, unburdened by exams, basking in the warmth that has finally arrived after the unreasonably long, cold winter. Students lay sprawled out on the grass, propped under trees, or splashing each other merrily at the edges of the Black Lake, but Felix passes them all without seeing, focused entirely on the letter he's retrieved from his pocket and unfolds carefully as he walks.

The letter arrived two days before, and since then Felix has carried it with him everywhere. He's afraid to leave it in his room, cannot bear to keep it even as far away as his school bag, for fear it might vanish. No matter how real the now well-worn parchment feels in his hands, part of him is still convinced it's a figment of his imagination.

Felix's legs move without guidance from his brain, which is just as well since his brain is too preoccupied at the moment to be bothered with anything quite so trivial as where he's going. He's peripherally aware of sloping, uneven ground under his feet, and the sounds of merry laughter behind him growing fainter. He scans the cramped, uneven handwriting, searching feverishly for that line he has memorized and yet is compelled to see in print every few minutes.

"_...my pleasure to offer you a position as my junior field assistant on an expedition the Reserve is sponsoring in Peru..._"

* * *

A joke, Felix thought the first time he read it; it's someone's horrid idea of a joke. Only who could have thought up such a thing? No one except Kettleburn and Juniper knows about his adventure of the last term, and the letter references the Common Welsh Green and the Reserve specifically. He's considered more than once whether this might be some misguided attempt of Juniper's to trick him into pursuing Dragonology. But that's quite the elaborate scheme even for her. And besides, it isn't her handwriting. He's double-checked.

Felix thrusts aside branches and skirts clumps of overgrown grasses, dimly aware of a change in the light but unable to ascribe any meaning to it. The letter is real, then. It has to be. As unbelievable as it seems, he's spent two days considering every other possibility and nothing else adds up. He holds in his hand a real opportunity to study dragons out in the field. A once in a lifetime offer from a respected Dragonologist who chose him without an application, without NEWT scores, without even meeting him. Just based on Sparky's now legendary origin story and Kettleburn's recommendation.

It's everything Felix has never let himself even hope for; a longing relegated to the deepest recesses of late night fantasies; a very literal dream come true. And yet, Felix vacillates between overjoyed and overwhelmed. Because the choice it requires of him is so daunting it leaves him dizzy and weak in the knees.

Felix picks his way through the tightly intertwined branches without conscious effort, as though it were second nature. Which it is. He realises where his feet have led him only when they stop just at the edge of the valley where he spent half of the last term. The best half, he thinks. Maybe the best part of the last seven years. He drops to the ground, suddenly exhausted, and surveys the ditch in front of him. With the dragon gone, it seems so much larger.

How can he accept? How can he _not_ accept?

For a moment, Felix permits himself to imagine what it would be like to say yes. He swings his legs over the side of the ledge, allowing a thrill to course through him at the thought of making his dream a reality, living out a true adventure. He tries to picture himself deep in the wilds of a South American rain forest, tracking the Peruvian Vipertooth with nothing but his wits and his wand, but fails entirely. He has no frame of reference for this. Even after pulling down every book on geography the library contains (astonishingly few), his only impression of Peru is a small dark green space on an old fashioned map.

Felix wonders briefly if the library at home might have anything more informative, but that thought sends his heart sinking into stomach. Because equally hard to picture as life in Peru is the conversation it would require with his father. It wouldn't even be a conversation, he thinks, kicking restlessly at the earth wall beneath him. It would simply be his father's deadly quiet voice and his swiftly drawn wand reminding Felix who is his and where he belongs, and Felix passively accepting this the way he always has.

The writhing in his stomach at the thought of his pre-destined future is horribly familiar, but now it's accompanied by something different, something stronger: a wave of grief that breaks over his head with such intensity it forces his eyes shut. Felix grips the grass beneath his fingers tightly. He knows what loss feels like now. He didn't before. Can he live forever with the loss of this? Everything's he's ever dreamed of handed to him so perfectly?

He can't decide. He's run through these arguments so many times the last few days they feel as creased and faded as the letter itself. Felix wishes there were someone he could talk to about it who could offer perspective. He knows Juniper would listen, if he managed to track her down, but the last thing he needs now is for his awkward feelings for her to over-complicate a situation already fraught with difficulty. Besides, Felix knows exactly what she would say, can even picture how she would look saying it. The voice in his head urging him to go sounds remarkably like hers. And the other voice is his father's. He needs a new voice, someone whose answer isn't predetermined.

Glancing back down at the letter, Felix's eye is caught by that phrase, _Kettleburn has assured me..._

* * *

Felix treks out of the forest and toward the Care of Magical Creatures paddock just as a group of third years are finishing their final exam. Students in red and green ties run frantically about the enclosure attempting to round up what looks like a small army of nifflers. He can see Barnaby Lee toting an armful of the struggling creatures toward a large open box, and Liz Tuttle balancing a niffler on each shoulder, plying them with treats. Grinning slightly to himself, Felix wonders if this is part of the exam or merely another creature prison break. Kettleburn stands off to the side, laughing heartily, which offers no additional insight.

Not wanting to be recognized by anyone, Felix takes his time approaching the paddock. He waits for the teenagers to deposit their nifflers, then gather up their things, laughing and chatting happily with each other as if they haven't any real cares at all. It's like looking through a window into a different world, Felix thinks wistfully, one where the weight of the entire future isn't hanging ominously over anyone's head.

"Well, if it isn't my aspiring Dragonologist! How are you, lad?" Kettleburn exclaims jovially as Felix clambers over the perimeter fence and enters the paddock. A few lagging third years look around to see whom Kettleburn is referring to. Felix feels his cheeks heat up, and he tugs at his collar in a hopeless attempt to shield his face from recognition.

"Fine, Professor, thank you," he answers uncomfortably. He shoots a look at the now clearly eavesdropping third years, so curious to know what could bring a seventh year out of the library on NEWT week. Kettleburn follows his gaze, then gestures at the gaggle of students as if shooing them away.

"Go on, you lot, off to dinner then!" Reluctantly, they hoist their bags onto their shoulders and trot back up to the castle.

Kettleburn twists from side to side to make sure there's no one else still hanging around before saying in an unnecessary whisper, "If you're here about that dragon, I can tell you he is doing swimmingly at the Reserve!"

For the first time in two days, Felix finds something to distract him from the letter. "Have they been able to fix his wing, then?"

"Not to my knowledge no," Kettleburn's moustache droops a little as he frowns, "But he did have his first flame a week ago! Very momentous occasion, so sorry you couldn't be there. Though from what I hear, you'll soon be seeing as much dragon-fire as you could hope for. Congratulations, by the way!"

"Oh..." Felix flounders for something polite to say that won't betray his indecision. "Yes. That is - thank you, sir."

"Well, was there anything I could do for you, lad?" asks Kettleburn. "Not harboring any other dangerous creatures are we? Haven't perhaps found that old yeti of mine?" He sounds rather hopeful, but Felix shakes his head.

"No sir. I...I actually wanted to ask you a question about the letter I received from the Reserve-"

"Hang on," Kettleburn interrupts, limping quickly around Felix to where the box of nifflers has begun to shake alarmingly, the creatures inside working together to capsize their prison. The professor steadies the box before it tips and places his hand firmly against the top to prevent any nifflers from popping up that way.

"Mischievous little blighters. Hate to keep them cooped up, but they're in time-out you see. Gnawed through my favorite leg when I wasn't watching." Kettleburn casts a glance back at Felix, hand still keeping the protesting box as still as possible. "What were you saying, lad?"

"I was just saying..." Felix struggles to regain his train of thought. "The letter I received mentions that you recommended me personally."

"Of course!" declares Kettleburn proudly. "Never met students could handle a dragon the way you and Miss Windsong did for so long with so little disaster! I had a hard time convincing anyone at the Reserve I wasn't exaggerating!"

Felix watches as tiny fingered paws begin to poke through the cracks at the top of the box, and he has to work hard not to crack a grin, the tension constricting his chest easing slightly.

"Yes sir, but...before that."

"Before?" repeats Kettleburn distractedly as he pokes the nifflers' paws back into the box one at a time.

"Before you found out about the dragon," clarifies Felix. "When I asked you if you had any contacts in dragonology, you said... you thought it was an excellent career choice for me?"

Kettleburn finally draws his wand and flicks it toward the top of the box wordlessly, making it go still. He straightens up, brushing off his kilt.

"I did indeed."

"But...why?" Felix asks unable to keep his voice casual or unconcerned in the face of the question he's been dying to know the answer to since November.

"Why?" Kettleburn fixes his one eye on Felix in a critical stare, as if deciding whether or not he's joking. But Felix has never been more serious in his life. "Do you know what most dragonologists have in common, Mr. Rosier?"

Felix shakes his head.

"Well, they all look a good bit like me." Kettleburn waves his replacement arm up and down the length of his body, indicating his many missing limbs. "You see, wizards who work with dangerous creatures generally have an excess of enthusiasm but lack what you might call self-preservation. You need a decent bit of both to be successful, but Magizoologists, and Dragonologists in particular, tend to put a premium on the former. We're a passionate bunch - have to be! But it does tend to shorten your life span and your number of natural limbs," Kettleburn concludes almost wistfully, regarding his own wooden leg which Felix notices is riddled with tiny niffler-sized toothmarks.

"But you, lad!' Kettleburn adds, pointing his claw at Felix. "You have something else."

"What?" breathes Felix, eager as a child on Christmas.

"Why, a good bit of common sense!" Kettleburn exclaims, arms spread wide as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. "Let me ask you, what do you think would have happened to Miss Windsong had you not been there to assist her with that dragon?"

Both the professor's answer and his follow-up question surprise Felix. He casts his mind back to the previous term, trying to imagine what each interaction with Sparky would have been like for Juniper alone. She did visit the dragon on her own for nearly a month before he joined her. And she was admittedly, more careful when approaching the dragon than Felix had ever seen her with anything else. But what would have happened once she decided Sparky needed exercise? Felix had orchestrated every successful part of that plan. Would she have tried to shrink the dragon like she first suggested? He doubts she could have managed it on her own, but if she had, if she freed Sparky from the ditch and led him to the grasslands by herself? Felix remembers the murderous look on the dragon's face and he feels suddenly queasy.

"I gather that you were rather the sensible one between the two of you," Kettleburn asserts. "And a dragonologist with a degree of sense is a rare find indeed. It would make you an impressive addition to any team. Not to mention increase your chances of survival by a good deal."

Felix turns this over in his mind. It's a perspective he hasn't considered. As much as he loves dragonology, it hasn't occurred to him that he might bring something unique and necessary to the profession. It makes his decision somehow bigger than just himself and his family.

Kettleburn limps toward Felix. "Dragonology isn't exactly a glamorous career, lad. It's dirty and tedious and pays precious little, and you'll see more than your fair share of danger. And it isn't the sort of thing you can change your mind about halfway through. You have to be determined, dedicated, able to withstand a great deal of hardship." The tall professor claps his good hand to Felix's shoulder encouragingly. "But it seems to me that a young man who's spent half a year secretly caring for a dragon with no hope of any reward but a great deal of risk including expulsion, on top of a seventh year's class schedule and NEWT studies- that's a person who's positively born for dragons. I can't imagine you won't make a name for yourself."

There's no fanfare or applause, no sudden beam of light that shines down onto Felix as he makes his decision; the way such a life-changing decision really deserves, he thinks. There's just the instant when he knows what he's going to do, as surely and with as little wonder as if he had made the choice long ago and only just now remembered to inform himself. He isn't going home. He isn't going to worry about what his parents want him to do or become. He's going to Peru to be a dragonologist, to make a name for himself, and start making the people who actually care about him proud for a change.

Kettleburn stands back and surveys Felix, slightly concerned. "Not having second thoughts, are you lad?" and Felix smiles, a real, joyful smile with no hint of a smirk, like the sun emerging from behind clouds.

"Not at all, sir. Thank you. For everything."

* * *

An easy decision, then, in the end. Felix crafts his acceptance letter flawlessly in one draft, as though he's known the whole time what his answer would be and has been composing the reply in his head. He sends the letter off the same day, and as he descends the owlery stairs, he feels like a brand new person.

Much less easy is the letter to his parents. An hour after Felix begins, the floor is littered with parchment and his hair is on end as he struggles to find a way of explaining what to them will be brand new and bizarre information. Nothing he writes will make them understand, he's sure of that. It's quite possible they won't even believe it. He imagines his father's indignant reply will accuse him of some NEWT induced madness, perhaps even in the form of a howler in an attempt to scare him to his senses.

Eventually, Felix writes the simple facts of the matter and seals the letter before he can reconsider. There will be fallout, he has no doubt. But somehow, now that he's made his decision, that knowledge is less frightening than it used to be. It's simply another hurdle in the way of his goal, one that he will inevitably overcome.

Only it's not a letter or a howler that arrives at school the morning Felix prepares to sit his final NEWT in Potions. As he makes his way to the Great Hall along with the other seventh year Slytherins, all quizzing each other frantically in hushed tones, he hears a voice saying his name from somewhere behind him. The voice isn't loud, but it carries with ease over his classmates susurrations. It's a quiet, deadly voice that Felix would recognize anywhere, even if he's never expected to hear it here at Hogwarts before.

Felix whips around in thunderstruck horror to find his father. He stands outside the door to Snape's office, the professor himself hovering just behind him. Felix notices distantly that his head of house seems even more displeased than usual and he addresses Felix's father in his most politely venomous tone.

"Mr. Rosier, your son is due to sit his final NEWT momentarily. Surely, this can wait."

"Absolutely not." His father's voice does not increase in volume but broaches no argument. Students around Felix are turning to stare and he can feel a heat rising in his cheeks that would keep a salamander content.

Snape's eyes flick once to the hallway around Felix before saying smoothly, "Then this conversation should be moved elsewhere." He jerks open the door to his office and waits pointedly beside it. Felix's father gives his son one last empty-eyed stare before stalking into the room leaving Felix to follow.

Felix uses the dozen steps to the dungeon to steel his nerve against the rise of instinctual panic within him. He's faced down a dragon, he reminds himself fiercely, why is his father so much more frightening?_ Kettleburn assures me you are excellent under pressure_, he repeats like a mantra. But for some reason, he cannot harness that acumen that has brought him so far. He has no plan of attack against his father, no way to defend. He never has.

"What is this rubbish?" His father murmurs dangerously as soon as the door snaps shut behind Felix. He brandishes his son's letter in two fingers as though it were something filthy.

Felix takes a deep breath. And then another._ Kettleburn assures me..._

"It's a letter," he says simply. He doesn't intend this remark to sound as sarcastic as it does, but his father's eyes flash with fury and his hand creeps toward the pocket of his robes. Felix suppresses his involuntary twitch.

"No. It isn't," his father contradicts. "It's raving nonsense is what it is. 'Dragons and South America'," he utters contemptuously, glancing down at the offending words. "You consider this some sort of drollery, I assume? Perhaps if you tell me the name of the person who put you up to such a joke, you might be spared the more severe repercussions."

Snape doesn't keep chairs or sofas in his office for students to sit on leaving a large amount of open floor space, yet Felix's father seems to fill up the entire room with his presence, trapping Felix against the door. His heart is pounding so loudly he cannot hear himself think.

"It's not. A joke," he stammers. The weakness in his voice feeds the cold fire in his father's eyes._ Deep breath. Focus_. "As I explained in my letter, I received an extraordinary offer to accompany a highly respected Dragonoligist on an expedition in Peru. This offer is time sensitive and rare. I would be amiss not to accept it."

In almost eighteen years, Felix has never once seen his father speechless. Furious and raging, yes; cold and deadly, often; but never with his dark, empty eyes so round and wide, and his mouth hanging slightly open like a fish. It changes his father's aspect entirely. And Felix can hear Juniper's voice in his head, _He's just a parent. He's not infallible_. And he feels the fear begin to leak slowly from him like air from a balloon.

"What...is this madness?" Felix watches his father struggle to collect himself, can see wheels turning behind his eyes as he tries to regain control of the discussion. He suddenly turns and jabs a finger toward Snape, seemingly desperate for someone to whom he can attribute blame. "Where have you been in all this?"

Felix is impressed to find Snape entirely unintimidated by the fuming man in front of him.

"This is as much news to me as it is to you, Mr. Rosier. Your son has never confided in me any particular interest in Dragonology." Felix notices his father is several inches shorter than Snape. In fact, Felix thinks his father might actually be an inch or two shorter than himself. The image of his father in his head has always been like a statue, towering over him from a height Felix will never reach. It's strange to realize how small he actually is.

"No, I haven't. But it isn't new," Felix declares, his voice stronger. Both men turn to stare at him. "I've always been passionate about dragons. And this year I had the opportunity to interact with one and discovered I have quite a talent for it." He does not neglect to infuse his voice with the pride he feels is justified. "Professor Kettleburn was suitably impressed and recommended me to a friend he has at the Romanian Reserve. They believe I am uniquely qualified, and I was offered the position personally without an application or test scores. I've decided to take it."

Felix's father begins that slow saunter forward that Felix knows so well and alarm bells sound in his brain. But now he can see that his father is just another beast, his calculated steps merely an intimidation technique. His father's hand flicks lazily to his wand, but Felix can focus through the fear. _Excellent under pressure...uniquely qualified_. He tenses his muscles precisely, ready to dodge whatever spell his father chooses to throw, the same way he's dodged the snapping jaws of a dragon.

"You listen to me." His father's voice is barely a whisper. "This is a childishness I believed you were finally above but I see I have overestimated you. You are far too old to play these games-"

"You're right," Felix interjects calmly. He can hardly believe himself, because he has _never _done that before. Never even considered doing so. But like every other new and dangerous thing he's done this year, it comes with an incredible rush of excitement. "I am a legal adult now which means you cannot keep me from accepting this position. I can make my own decision regarding my future, and this is what I've decided."

His father might have turned to stone, he's so deathly still. Felix wonders if it's the confidence infused in his tone or simply that his father hasn't been contradicted by anyone in recent memory. Felix sets his face with grim determination, like a certain fourteen year old he knows so well. It's a look that doesn't yell or threaten, simply refuses to be cowed. But he's still himself, and so there's a smirk in it as well.

"Obviously, I would prefer that you see how this can be mutually advantageous. A position like this takes our name out of the spot light, yes, but it's still a position that carries prestige. It might be everything we need to repair the damage to the family reputation you caused." His father blinks, the first sign of life from him. "But if you cannot see that, nothing changes. This is what I've chosen."

Something shifts in the elder Rosier's face. The frozen features seem to melt slightly and a look that Felix recognises crosses his face briefly. He's seen his father look that way at Evan many times, but it isn't a look he ever seen directed at himself. It's respect.

"Well," his father pronounces finally, face now a careful mask. "I suppose congratulations are in order." He gives his son an infinitesimal nod, and if Snape suddenly began singing Celestina Warbeck in the background it would not have surprised Felix more. "It seems you've found yourself a bit of power. You might not be the waste of a name I considered you." His eyes meet Felix's in the closest thing to approval that Felix has ever experienced from him as he closes the distance between them.

"I will allow you to have your lark, for now. But know this, Felix," and he sets his hand briefly upon his son's shoulder. "Power without direction is meaningless. And often disastrous. The time will come when your power will need to be harnessed to a cause greater than yourself. And far more important than dragons."

And with that final pronouncement as his only farewell, his father sweeps from the dungeon, leaving Felix to somehow right the world from where it's been turned upside down. Felix is as dazed as if his father had hit him with a stunning spell, and he would be mortified if he had any concept of the slack-jawed expression of disbelief on his face.

"Mr. Rosier," Snape's voice drifts toward him from somewhere faraway. "You will need to proceed to your potions NEWT if you do not wish to receive a failing grade."

Felix nods dazedly, and exits the office as if he's floating. He wanders up the passage, legs moving of their own accord as his brain tries to comprehend the last ten minutes. In seventeen years of seeking his father's approval, is it possible he's found it by standing up against him?

Once again, Felix is thankful that he tests so well, because he has never been more distracted during an examination.

* * *

_Click._ Felix shuts the door to the horseless carriage carefully behind the last of the excitedly chattering first years. He scrutinizes the thinning crowd of students waiting to be ferried to the Hogwarts express to be sure he hasn't missed anyone, when he hears his name being called. Felix turns to see Barnaby Lee practically falling from the window of a nearby carriage in his attempt to flag Felix down.

"Felix, over here! Please?"

Shaking his head ruefully, Felix makes his way to the carriage and clambers in, settling himself beside Barnaby, much to the younger boy's obvious pleasure. It isn't until he's already seated and the carriage has begun to move that he realises the opposite seats are filled by Rowan Khanna and Juniper Windsong.

"I can't believe you won't be back next year," Barnaby laments, his face, always full of exactly what he's feeling, now the picture of dejection.

"Slytherin has other prefects, Barnaby. They'll help you with anything you need, that's their job." Felix tries to sound reassuring, but he can't focus properly. It's the first time he's been this close to Juniper since they said goodbye in the common room weeks ago, and he's acutely aware of her eyes on him.

"Yes, but not like you," Barnaby objects. "You never call me stupid or complain when I don't get things right away, like the other ones do. I don't know how I'll pass any of my classes now."

"You can revise with us!" Rowan blurts out, leaning forward excitedly in her seat.

"You wouldn't want to revise with me," replies Barnaby, sadly. "I'll just slow you down. I never understand anything. It used to drive Merula mad."

"There's nothing wrong with taking it slow, " Juniper chimes in. "Everyone struggles with something. Rowan's no good with creatures and I'm rubbish at Transfiguration. But we help each other. No matter how long it takes."

"Really?" Barnaby's face reflects earnest curiousity.

"Of course," says Juniper with a light, good-natured laugh. "That's what friends are for." And Felix has no time to glance away from her before she catches his eye, as if searching for his approval.

Felix feels like he might burst from the swell of pride and fondness he feels for her. He nods very slightly.

"Looks like you're in good hands, Barnaby," he says, giving the other boy a small smile of solidarity. "But if you ever need any particular advice, you can always write me."

Barnaby's face lights up again. "Really? Are you staying in London, then? You could come visit us sometime!" The younger boy is nearly bouncing in his seat with the force of his excitement. Felix has to work immensely hard to keep his smile from growing out of control.

"No actually, I have a job lined up in Peru," He says this casually, flicking back a loose piece of hair from his forehead and basking in the impressed looks on everyone's faces. Including Juniper's.

"What's that?" asks Barnaby confused.

"You mean 'where's that?' and the answer is it's a country in South America." Rowan answers promptly before anyone else can get a word in.

"But...that's so far away!" Barnaby exclaims, his eyes wide with concern. "What are you doing there?"

Felix takes a moment to savor his next words. "I'll be joining a team of Dragonologists working with the Peruvian Vipertooth. They're the fastest breeding dragons and they terrorize the locals if left on their own, so there's always a small team there responsible for keeping the population in check. Should be a good experience."

There's a brief silence before Barnaby and Rowan jump in with half a dozen follow-up questions, each talking over the other and eager to hear more. Felix answers them non-nonchalantly, explaining that he's meeting the expedition team at the Three Broomsticks instead of taking the Hogwarts Express back to London, all as if they were discussing nothing more exceptional than History of Magic homework. He keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the two of them, refusing to glance at Juniper except from the very corner of his eye. She's too blurry to read an expression from, but the silence she maintains is not like her at all.

They reach the station in what feels to Felix like record time, and as he climbs out of the carriage he feels nerves begin to buzz within him pleasantly. He watches the students around him rush for the idling train, calling to friends and searching for empty compartments, and feels a pang of homesickness for this moment he will never have again.

Then Barnaby pulls Felix into a crushing hug from behind, and he can't stop himself chuckling. The boy is four years younger than Felix, but just as tall and already broader. There are tears in Barnaby's eyes when he pulls away which alarms Felix slightly, so he turns to wave and nod at Khanna already making her way toward the train to save seats. Barnaby follows her, lifting their collective trunks easily.

Finally, Felix has no choice but to turn his gaze to Juniper. She's still standing by the carriage watching him, face entirely unreadable, which is odd in and of itself since Felix now considers himself an expert in interpreting her expressions.

"Well, farewell then," is what Felix begins to say before Juniper cuts him off.

"Felix, are you serious? You're really going to Peru? To study dragons?" It's that chaotic way of speaking she resorts to when she can't string a full sentence together. And there's no way he can prevent his smile from broadening now.

"Yes. Kettleburn's friend from the Reserve made me an offer."

Juniper simply stares. Then she crosses the distance between them in the space of a heartbeat and flings her arms around Felix's neck, pulling him into a hug with much the same force as Barnaby's in spite of the fact that she's half as wide and nowhere near as tall. Felix is overwhelmed by her scent, and the feel of her closer to him than she's ever been. But before he can begin to think what to do next, before he can even hug her back properly, she's let go.

A heat like dragonfire radiates from Felix's cheeks. "What...was that for?" he slurs dazedly, rubbing the back of his neck.

I"m just..." Juniper breaks off, shaking her head. She seems as overwhelmed as Felix feels. "I'm just really, really happy for you." The grin plastered to her face is so wide she has to hide it with her hand.

And Felix smiles back, still red but now betraying some of the building excitement he feels for what's ahead. If there's anyone who truly understands what this means to him, it's Juniper. And in spite of his promise to himself that he would keep his distance from her until he left school, he's glad she knows.

"Will you write?" asks Juniper, "When you can, I mean. I know you'll be busy, I'd just... like to hear about it."

"I'll try," Felix replies noncommittally. Juniper nods as though she understands the reason for his reticence, but she can't possibly. He hopes.

"You're going to be great," she declares simply, and Felix's smile morphs into his customary smirk.

"Of course I am."

Juniper rolls her eyes. "Of course," she agrees, only half mocking.

Rowan calls down from the train, now billowing steam back across the nearly empty platform, and Juniper starts. She sprints toward the train, stopping at the stairs to shoot Felix a final lop-sided grin before climbing into her compartment. The three newly graduated third years wave down to Felix as the train begins to move and he waves back, the lump in his throat surprising him.

The earth-shattering excitement of the last weeks has prevented Felix from really processing that this is it; he's truly leaving Hogwarts forever. He's no longer a student, no longer a child, but a fully-grown wizard about to begin his real life. Felix has spent most of the year picturing this moment with dread, but everything's changed now. The next stage of his life is no longer a black spectre looming ahead of him, but an adventure the likes of which he never thought he'd see. He can feel that tremendous pounding of his heart in his chest that means he's about to attempt something new and dangerous and incredible. Felix lets the familiar sensation wash over him, and he smiles as he takes his first step toward the Three Broomsticks and into his new and unexpected future.


End file.
